Great America
by fariesteed
Summary: An Eric/Sookie Summer of '69 story. Amelia and Sookie take a trip to an amusement park to meet Pam and her Swedish cousin. AU and a little bit OOC
1. Chapter 1

**Eric n' Sooks - Summer of '69 One-shot Contest**

**Title: Great America**

**Your Pen name: Fariesteed**

**Characters: Eric/Sookie/Amelia/Pam**

**Disclaimer: These characters belong to the wonderful Charlaine Harris. They just keep coming to Texas to play.**

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A/N: Marriott's Great America, now part of the Six Flags chain of parks, opened in 1976. It never had a Tunnel of Love. But it should have.

Many thanks (again!) to VampLover1, for being a great beta. We'll both be in line when Six Flags opens "The Swede" as it's next feature ride!

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SOOKIE

Amelia and I were on our way to Gurnee, Illinois of all places. She had been bugging me for weeks to go to the new amusement park, Marriott's Great America. I had to admit it looked like fun. I had been to the midways of our fairs and little carnivals, but I had never gone to Disney World or any other big amusement park. Gran had raised my brother Jason and I after our parents died in a car accident. While there was enough money for the necessities and some niceties, a long road trip and vacation were out of the question. The commercials for Great America covered the radio and TV stations. It felt like if we didn't go now, we'd be the only ones in the Midwest who had missed out.

Amelia had convinced me to go, in part, by telling me that Pam was coming down from Minnesota to join us. Amelia introduced me to Pam last fall. They had really hit it off together, in a way that I wasn't interested in joining, but I had enjoyed Pam. She had a wicked sense of humor as she watched the customers in the bar where both Amelia and I worked. I was working to save money for college. Amelia had money from her family; I think she just worked to have something to do. We had been roommates since we graduated high school, Amelia the witch and Sookie the telepath, two weird girls together. Most people didn't know about our little differences. It had been Amelia who taught me to shield myself somewhat from people's thoughts.

We were dressed for the bicentennial, like the rest of America, at least in the Midwest. We both were wearing blue denim shorts and red, white and blue shirts, not quite matching but close. Everywhere you looked people wore the colors of the flag, and the flags themselves were planted everywhere. It seemed incredible that the United States had made it through 200 years; it was longer than Amelia or I could contemplate. It was three or four lifetimes; just about forever. We drove down the tollway, listening to the radio. It was late afternoon; tonight the park would be open late, until 3 A.M. as part of a special promotion. Ride under the lights and stars, the ad said. We had been talking nonstop since we left the apartment.

"When is Pam going to meet us?" I asked Amelia. "And where?"

"Sometime around nine or so, by the big merry-go-round. She said we won't be able to miss it."

"Why is she down in Illinois anyways? She doesn't seem like the amusement park type."

"She said she was going shopping in Chicago. And some relative of hers is here doing an internship at the park. He's from Sweden. Hey, maybe he'll be your type!" Amelia said, raising her eyebrows speculatively at me.

"I don't know what 'my type' is. Definitely not like that Bill Compton guy you tried to set me up with." She had met Bill one night while he sat in her section of the bar, nursing a 7&7. He wasn't much of a drinker, but was friendly enough. He worked for some computer business that kept him busy all day and some nights. I didn't know much about computers, but I could imagine him running around with his hands full of punch cards all day long. He even worked weekends or so it seemed; he never made time to go to anything on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, just late nights. I had finally dropped trying to see him, but he still showed up occasionally at a party. It seemed like sometimes I could feel him watching me.

Bill was one of the people whose minds I could not read. But he wasn't the only one I couldn't read. Not everyone has clear thoughts in their heads. Some people are blanks like Bill, some are snarled and tangled, some just too blurry. It was part of what made everyone different, I guessed.

"Swedish." I mused. "I don't think I ever met anyone from Sweden. Hey, I hope he doesn't go around singing ABBA songs all the time."

"Sookie! Mellow out. Just because he's Swedish doesn't even mean he likes ABBA. Give the guy a chance. You haven't met anyone from anywhere else than home."

"Yeah, sure." I muttered. Like it had been a cue, ABBA's "SOS" came on the radio. I hoped it wasn't a bad sign.

We finally got to Great America, waited in a huge line to park in a lot the size of a smaller state, and took the trolley up to the gate. We paid to get in and got our hands stamped (for in and out of the park privileges, the attendant explained). The first view of the park was a big reflecting pool and a giant double decker merry-go-round. It was beautiful; I had never seen anything like it. Pam was right; there was no way to miss that! Like everyone else we went to stand in line to ride it. Amelia and I picked horses on the top deck, where we could look out over parts of the park. She was carrying the map and was already starting to plan out what to ride and eat. When the merry go round ride was over, we started roaming the park, riding whatever looked like fun. I had been worried that the park would be filled with nothing but kids, but as the evening wore on there were more young adults like Amelia and me.

At about 8:30, Amelia and I stood in line for a hamburger at the stand near the merry-go-round. We had eaten some of the usual amusement park snacks as we were walking around, but our stomachs were calling out for real food. Burgers, fries and a bucket sized cup of coke seemed to fit the bill. We were eating and Amelia was singing "Born To Run," along with the Boss when she suddenly stood up and started waving her hands over her head frantically. I turned around in my seat and saw Pam and what was surely a Norse God walking towards us. I looked at Amelia.

"_That's_ her cousin?" I asked.

"Maybe, I've never met him either." she replied. I really hoped I didn't have the same expression on my face as she had on hers. I grabbed a napkin to make sure I wasn't drooling; after all, Gran had taught me that drooling in public was not polite.

By then they had reached our table. Amelia hugged Pam, and left me and her cousin looking at each other. He was very tall and very broad and very muscular. His blond hair matched mine in color and fell down past his shoulders, although he had it in a neat tie at the base of his neck. He was wearing a black Styx t-shirt and faded blue jeans and carried a denim jacket over one arm. Pam stepped back from Amelia.

"Amelia, Sookie, this is my cousin Eric. He's working here at the park as a management intern for a Swedish company."

"Hi Eric" Amelia and I managed to blurt out at the same time, and laughed at each other. Eric looked down on us with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Of course, he was most likely used to females becoming incoherent around him. He didn't offer to shake hands, I wondered if that was just a Swedish thing.

"We just started eating, are you going to get something?" Amelia asked.

"No, we already ate," answered Pam. She exchanged a glance and smirk with Eric as she said it. I hoped they weren't that sort of cousins, although it might have been too much to hope that Eric was unattached for his stay and needed someone to show him around and…I was daydreaming about him already.

Eric and Pam sat down while we finished eating. Amelia was talking to Pam between mouthfuls. Amelia was describing our co-worker Arlene's current flame to Pam when her eyes suddenly got big as she looked over my head.

"Hello, Sookie." Bill Compton was the last person I expected to see at an amusement park, but here he was talking to me.

"Hi Bill" I answered weakly. Gran's good manners took over. "Did you ever meet Pam at the bar? And this is her cousin, Eric..." I trailed off.

"I don't think I ever had the pleasure," he said, but he sure didn't look pleased. "I've missed seeing you the past several weeks. I've been hoping to take you to another movie or something".

Great. I hoped Eric didn't think Bill and I were attached in any way. He and Pam and Eric had nodded at each other when I introduced them. Eric and Bill looked like they were sizing each other up. My bets were on Eric.

"Well, Bill, you hadn't called for so long, I thought you were too busy with work to do anything. What brings you down here?"

"I'm visiting some friends for a few days. Diane and Malcolm have a home near here, and they thought I would find it interesting to come here."

"And have you?" asked Eric, sounding rather cold to my ears.

"Yes, very," replied Bill. "The assortment of people here is very interesting."

I grabbed my tray and Amelia's and emptied them in the trash can. When I got back to the table, everyone was standing. Eric was considerably taller than Bill, and was glaring down at him from his heights. He came and stood next to me.

"Well, should we be off to try some of the rides?" asked Amelia.

"Yes, we should," answered Eric, apparently for all of us.

"Bye, Bill, see you later," I said, although I hoped I really didn't. I still couldn't escape the feeling that he was following me and watching me wherever I went.

ERIC

This human was...interesting. Pam had insisted that I meet her. I agreed once she told me she was a telepath. A telepath could be very useful. Pam didn't think she could read vampire minds. Again, very useful. Possibly it would keep her alive. Vampires were still myth to humans, myth and bad movies. And we wanted it to stay that way. So here I was, posing as Pam's cousin from Sweden. It was not the first time we'd done this act together.

When I sat next to her at the table I could smell fairy all over her. Pam apparently had not met any fairies, but I had and enjoyed every one; the scent was unforgettable. I could imagine the taste, even if she was just part fae. I needed a taste of her blood to be sure. I wanted more than a taste if she was truly fae, although to be useful as a telepath I would have to keep her alive.

I had known a psychic some years ago. She was very clear on predictions for humans and shifters, but found vampires to be blurry, she said. She was very difficult to glamour. I wondered if this Sookie would be equally difficult. If so, it increased the problem's difficulty, but I was sure I'd be able to get her under control. First, the blood, though, and then I could work on tying her to me. And I wanted her tied to me, for reasons that were unclear to me now. She was already attracting other vampires. I had heard of Bill Compton before, but never met him. He was known to work for other, older vampires as someone to do their dirty work with humans - never killing, just underhanded. Me, I did my own work, dirty and all.

SOOKIE

"So Pam," I said. "What're you doing in Minnesota? Are you living in Minneapolis?"

"I'm a night manager for a bar, since I like working nights. Actually I'm living just north of Minneapolis. As for living in Minnesota - where else would a Viking fan live?" As she answered she smirked at Eric again and he laughed back.

"Viking fan? I didn't even know you liked football."

Pam smiled. "What's not to like about a bunch of big guys in attractive uniforms?"

"I didn't remember you enjoying uniforms so much Pam," Eric said, smiling. "I'm sure we can make some arrangements for you to see more of them."

His smile was dangerous.

"This is a trial site for something different. The whole park is new, of course" said Eric, leading us into a path with an overhead arch. The arch held a sign: "America's Midway."

"But this area is a new concept for Marriott's that we are testing here."

"We've tried to recreate the feeling of a traditional fair's midway, with rides and games. You'll have to let me know how we've done - I've never been to an American fair, so I find I am unable to judge it well." Eric held out a hand to usher us into the area. It was lit by neon lights and strings of bulbs. American flags and red-white–and blue bunting decorated every booth. The music from the speakers in the area was all of the standard fourth of July parade marching tunes. A vendor was pushing a combination popcorn and ice cream cart - a strange combination in my mind, but it seemed to be working, based on the line of customers that formed when he stopped. They certainly had all of the look and feel of a carnival down pat, I thought.

ERIC

As we walked, it came to me how to finally get a taste of her blood. While she was playing a game that involved trying to throw rings onto bottles - and I could see Pam's concentration to throw them between bottles rather than get a ringer every time - I walked over to a stand that was selling flowers and purchased the standard red rose that human females seemed to find so appealing. I also pulled a small nail from the siding of the stand. Surely she had a current tetanus shot - it would be a shame to lose her to a common illness after I had gone to this much effort. It needed to be risked though. I had to have a drop of her blood to know what she was, and to see if she could be controlled if glamouring did not work on her.

I took her flower and the nail in one hand, and walked back to stand behind her. I wasn't abnormally quiet, but she still jumped, startled, when I put one hand on her shoulder, and reached around in front of her with the rose.

"For you, beautiful," I whispered, taking the opportunity to slide my lips down her neck and inhale her scent again.

"Eric! You shouldn't have! Thank you" she said. As she took the flower from my hand, I managed to prick one of her fingers when our hands met.

"Ouch!"

"Did it still have a thorn? Let me see." I raised her hand to my face. "There is a little scratch. Let me make it better." I put my lips to the scratch, and while I was kissing it, licked up the drop of blood. She shook lightly as I did. I suppressed the urge to shiver back. Definitely part Fae of some sort. I wrapped her hand around the flower and dropped the nail into my pocket. I stayed behind her with both hands holding her shoulders. I knew how to make almost any human woman want to be with me, and I was going to make this human mine.

SOOKIE

We wandered away from the ring-the-bottle game. Amelia had won a fuzzy purple bear. I didn't ask if she had used some sort of spell to make her rings go over the bottle tops. We came to an old fashioned Scrambler ride, the kind that looks like an oversized egg beater gone crazy. We got in line. Eric stood behind me with both hands on my shoulders. I didn't even know this guy and it felt good to have him holding me. Amelia was singing along with Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom." She loved to sing, and what she lacked in ability she made up for with her enthusiasm.

"Do you sing, Sookie?" Eric asked. I turned out from his hands to answer.

"In the shower sometimes, and in the car when I'm by myself. Other than that, I don't make anyone else listen to me sing." I looked up at him. His eyes were a very intense blue. He was looking at me like he was trying to put his thoughts in my head. I could almost feel his thoughts pushing at me, but I wasn't reading anything from him. He continued to stare at me for what felt like a very long time. I stared right back at him. Those eyes...I could look into them forever. Finally he smiled and glanced away.

"Not everyone should be singing in public anyways. Do you dance?"

"Yes, I love to dance. Amelia and I have even gone to one of the new disco music bars in town - you can really dance to that music!" I said enthusiastically.

"So, you go out with Amelia because you have no boyfriend? That Bill is not special to you?" He had just enough accent to make his voice even more appealing.

"Bill...well, Bill and I have gone out a few times, but I don't think he's really interested. I don't know him that well. I wouldn't consider him a boyfriend. Or anyone else right now." The line had moved and it was our turn to get on the scrambler. Amelia got into one car and we got into another. Eric's hand slipped down to hold mine as I got in. He climbed in gracefully after me and closed the safety bar in front of us.

The ride started turning and spinning the cars, faster and faster. I saw Amelia and Pam's car shoot towards us on a collision course, only to turn away at the last second. The centrifugal force of the turning pushed me into Eric's side. He didn't seem to mind. He put his arm around me and pulled me even closer. The night had cooled since the sun was down, and his jacket was cool to lean against. When the ride stopped, he held my hand as I got out of the car and didn't let it go.

We walked around the park some more, trying out the rides and games as we came to them. Eric was a bad shot at the shooting gallery with the air rifles, but both he and Pam could throw a wicked softball at the stack of three milk bottles. We walked past the guy guessing people's ages. Amelia wanted to let him try with us. Eric said that they were never right about his age, and Pam just smiled and threw her hair back over her shoulders.

"A lady never gives her age away." That was Pam.

I loved roller coasters and I loved the log ride that was like a roller coaster through a water flume. Amelia and I had ridden it three times earlier. When we walked past it I wanted to do it again. Standing in line seemed to be an integral part of being at an amusement park, so we went and stood in line again.

"Eric should ride in the back of the log, so we make a bigger splash," said Amelia. Eric laughed and agreed.

"I'll hold Sookie in front of me so she doesn't slide out," he said as he smiled. He moved to stand behind me again, and slid his hands down from my shoulders to my waist. I shivered lightly. I wanted badly to lean back against him. I had never been so attracted to a guy right off the bat before. There was something almost magnetic about him.

It was finally our turn. Eric climbed into the log first, seated in the back. I got in next. There was one long bench that all the passengers straddled, so I swung a leg over it and slid back to sit in front of Eric. He had been dangling his hands over the edge of the log. He brought them up dripping wet and rested them on my thighs as he wrapped himself around me.

"Eric! You're hands are like ice!" I yelped. Amelia and Pam laughed at my expression. Eric put his head over my shoulder and snuggled up against me.

"I'll just have to warm you up then, won't I?"

I shivered again and it wasn't entirely the cold causing it. Just his voice was certainly enough to warm me up. Amelia and Pam were seated and the attendant opened the gate that was holding back the log. The ride started with some gentle dips and curves. Eric still had his arms around me, and was nuzzling my neck. The first downhill run of the log flume pushed me back against him. His legs were snug against mine and his hands on my thighs pulled me even closer. It should have been an uncomfortable position with a stranger, but it felt right with him. The log made a hard fast turn in the water and a wave splashed up over the side and soaked us all. Fortunately Amelia had the foresight to put her bear in a plastic bag...and then I lost all thoughts of Amelia's bear or anything else because Eric's hands were sliding up and down my thighs, flicking the water off of them. They slid up into my shorts as we went down another drop.

"I like the wet t-shirt look on you," he whispered with his lips right against my ear. I squirmed because it tickled and because his hand had somehow slipped under my panties and his fingers were exploring my folds. It felt like he'd done this before and I wasn't going to let his experience go to waste. The log continued to go through a series of tight turns and I rocked back even closer against him. I could feel him hard against my back, even through his jeans. I had to gasp as I felt him, he felt huge against my back, confined by the pants; I wondered what he felt and looked like free of the jeans.

"Maybe your t-shirt isn't the only thing I like wet about you," he said quietly, so the other two girls surely could not have heard. His fingers continued to move, first on my nub, then sliding into me. I had to stay quiet with Pam and Amelia right in front of me, but the rest of the outside world had disappeared to me. We were approaching the last and largest drop of the ride. As we went over the edge, Eric brought me over the edge with an orgasm. A bright light flashed as I came and I knew that the photographer had caught my expression along with the others as we made a big splash at the bottom of the drop.

We were all soaked when we got out of the log. Eric in the back had apparently made a difference, Amelia and I had not gotten as wet the other times. I, of course was wet all over and weak in the knees for another reason, but I hoped that the others wouldn't notice.

"That's really a great ride," Eric said with a sly smile. "I really didn't think much of it before, it must be the company." Pam gave him a knowing glance.

"You do like getting wet, don't you," she said. "You seem to make quite a splash."

We started walking around the park again. I saw Bill once, standing with a woman and three men. The woman and one of the men had minds that were blank to me; the two men were sort of red and wild in their thoughts. I would have to talk to Amelia about it sometime and see if she knew why I'd see a difference in people like that. Eric was right at my side, holding my hand. After what he'd done on the log ride, I didn't want to let him go. Any guy who was that talented with his hands had to be good in other ways. And I felt like I owed him back. We had made a full circle back to the midway section. It was getting very late; we only had about a half hour until the park closed.

"Ride on the tunnel of love with me?" asked Eric.

"Umm, sure," I answered, blushing. We went over to the ride's entrance. Surprisingly there was just a short line, and we got into a little boat built for two. As tall and muscular as Eric was, it was a very tight fit and I was sitting right up against his side with his arm around me. Eric had his free hand in the water, splashing.

"You've already done the 'cold hands, warm heart' thing on me, Eric," I said, a little warily. I had felt what he could do with a hand in public; in the dark, by ourselves...

"I don't think I've been accused of having a warm heart lately." He smirked as the little boat took off in the current and slipped in the dark. "You know, we have one of these rides in an amusement park in Sweden, at Grona Lund Park. I'm told they are not so common in the states anymore."

"I've never been on one before," I told him. It had gotten very dark, and my eyes struggled to adjust. We went around a corner and through a dark cloth that blocked the light from the next room. It was a black light, and there were moving shapes on the wall. It was very surreal. The painting made it look like we were moving to a doorway that was much too small, but we slid through it anyways. Another sharp turn took us into a room with a bright strobe light, and there were people dressed in black moving and jumping at us.

"Don't worry, Sookie, I have you," he said in my ear. I was a little freaked out by the lights and the jerky movements of the people lunging at us. I had thought a tunnel of love would be a peaceful ride where we might be able to do some making out, but this one seemed designed to get me sitting on Eric's lap. He took advantage of my closeness by running his hands up under my t-shirt and his thumbs over my nipples. Even through my bra they were hard. I squirmed on his lap. I could feel him hard under me and went still, not wanting to make him more uncomfortable.

"Keep moving, it feels good." He was nibbling at my neck, and slipped his hands under my bra and pushed it up out of his way. His hands cupped my breasts. We were in a very dark quiet section of the ride, but I still felt like there were people moving around us, although I couldn't sense any thoughts. _Eric might have driven every thought out of my head,_ I thought_._ His hand suddenly darted out and pulled open a metal gate that let the boat into a little alcove.

"What's this?" I asked.

"It's a maintenance area. I feel like there is something I need to take care of here." The boat was still in the small area. Eric's hands gripped my waist, and he turned me around to face him. He slid my shirt up and ran his lips over my breast.

"Eric! What if someone comes along and sees us?" I whispered.

"No one will see us, it's too dark," he said.

"Beautiful," he murmured. He sucked on a nipple and it felt so good I didn't wonder how he could see in the dark to tell what anything looked like. I ran my hands down his back and managed to move enough so that I could get my hand into position to unsnap his jeans. He kissed my lips, oddly gentle, while I got his zipper down. He wasn't wearing any underwear, and what sprang out of his pants definitely got my attention. The man was huge - maybe they didn't make underwear that could contain him. I wrapped a hand around him - my fingers would not meet around him - and stroked up. He sighed and moved under me enough that I could move his jeans to where the zipper wasn't a danger. His attention had returned to my breast and my hand moved up and down him. I just could not see stripping down enough to have sex in this little boat, as badly as I wanted to. And where that thought had come from, I wasn't sure; it wasn't like me to want to fuck with an almost-complete stranger. I was thinking too much, I told myself, and returned my complete attention to Eric. I pulled away from him a little, and he watched me like he was afraid I would try to run. I scooted back in the seat as much as I could and put my head in his lap. I licked up the backside of him and then took as much of him in my mouth as I could. I worked him up and down sucking and licking, and managed to reach between his legs to cup his balls. His hands rested on the back of my head and grabbed my hair.

"Fuck, Sookie, that's so good."

His hips were starting to move under me, helping to thrust him into my mouth in a perfect rhythm. I used my tongue on the little bundle of nerves under the tip. His thrusting came quicker. I sucked hard and felt him shudder his release into my mouth. He took a few deep breaths and pulled me up to his face.

"I just wanted to thank you for what you did to me earlier," I said. It was too dark for him to see me blush.

"I'll do it anytime for that kind of thank you," he replied. I was still facing him and ran my hands back through his hair as he pulled me into a kiss.

"How long will you be staying in the States?" I asked him, although I was afraid of the answer. I was afraid he would be leaving in a week or so.

"Oh, at least a few more months. I need to finish out the summer here and see how the operations are prepared for winter." His hands were putting my clothes back to rights as he talked. "Maybe you can come down here again, very soon? Or I can come up to see you?"

I was thrilled at the thought of seeing more of him, and told him so.

"I bet Amelia and Pam will be wondering what happened to us." He had stood up in the boat and rezipped and snapped himself. He sat back down, and opened the little gate again, to let us into the flow of water. The gate clinked shut behind us. We continued in the dark for another few minutes, me snuggled hard into his side, while his hand absently stroked my hair.

ERIC

It was almost too easy pulling this girl to me. Some humans could be bound just as easily with sex as they were with blood. But this one...I really liked the taste of this one. If I was careful, I might get her to be with us without her understanding what we really were. There was a better chance of trying to glamour her if she was looking into my eyes while I was fucking her, and what a sweet experience that would be...I wanted her close to me, to protect her. It didn't really make any sense, but I hadn't lived this long by not following my feelings. That and she had not known that the people in the tunnel had been Bill Compton and two Weres, not our usual college students on a summer job. I thought they might have really tried to grab her if I hadn't been there. I almost wished they had tried; it would have been a glorious fight, but there would have been a lot of explaining to do to Sookie, and blood to clean. We'd done it many times before, but it was easier to avoid it for now. I looked forward to getting myself wrapped around this telepath.

SOOKIE

The boat made it to the exit. I was sure I was a little disheveled looking, and Pam and Amelia's expressions confirmed what they were thinking.

"Did you two have fun?" Asked Amelia.

"Yes, we did." Eric sounded positive on that.

A voice on the loudspeaker told us that the park was closing. We made our way out to the parking lot. Eric and Pam walked with us to Amelia's car.

"I need your phone number," Eric told me. I found a piece of paper and pen and wrote it down for him. He slipped it carefully in his pocket. "Are you home tomorrow night?"

"I get off work at eight; I should be home by about twenty after." I really hoped he would call.

"I'll call you then." He sounded positive.

I got into the car, and he leaned over and kissed me.

"Drive carefully," Pam told Amelia, and they hugged each other. Amelia got behind the wheel, and we drove off.

"I think you made quite an impression on the Norse God. Pam told me she hadn't seen him take to someone that fast before," Amelia said.

"There's a lot of him to like," I replied. We spent the rest of the ride home talking about what fun we'd had.

ERIC

I told Pam that we needed to keep this one, if we could. I also told her about Compton and the Weres in the tunnel.

"Surely they wouldn't have been stupid enough to try to grab her out from your arms, even with three of them."

"I think they might have tried. But they thought better of it. We need to find out why Compton is interested enough to try to grab her like that."

"I'll get on that immediately." Pam was a good child. And this telepath would be mine.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Sookie

Amelia and I got home at about five am. It had really been a long night. I washed my face and brushed my teeth and fell asleep immediately after I crawled under a sheet. The bedroom window was open, letting the cool night breeze in. Even in my dreams I could feel the wind moving my hair, and my dreams were of Eric's hands moving my hair aside to nuzzle my neck and running over my body. They woke me once; good dreams, but uneasy dreams too. After all, I hardly knew this guy. I'd given him my phone number, but what if he never called? What if he picked up and went back to Sweden and I never saw him again? I cuddled into my pillow for more sleep and dreams.

I woke up to sunlight through the window and the smell of fresh coffee. It was Sunday morning, almost 11 am. I found my way to the coffee pot and poured myself a cup. Amelia was sitting on the patio, coffee in one hand, newspaper in the other, and a box of fresh donuts from the corner bakery in front of her. I walked out to join her.

"Donuts and coffee – what else can get you moving in the morning like sugar and caffeine?" Amelia asked. She was eating a powdered sugar covered jelly donut herself - messy, but it looked good. I grabbed a napkin and put a cruller on it. I didn't have to be at work until three, so I could relax.

"At least you and Mr. Sweden didn't make the news for public lewdness after last night." She shook the paper at me and laughed. I thought that I had been quiet on the log flume last night while Eric worked magic on me with his fingers. It turned out that it was a good thing people made a lot of noises on the rides; apparently I had fit right in. I had to listen to a replay of her and Pam's comments on the ride home last night. They had done a lot of talking while Eric and I were, ummm, delayed, in the Tunnel of Love. I blushed from head to toe.

"You know, I don't even know where that came from...I've never done anything like that with anyone I know. I just met the guy and it felt...right..." I didn't know what to think really. I didn't feel bad about it, but it was strange.

"So, how does he kiss?" Amelia was the sharing type. It didn't seem fair that she couldn't hear my thoughts and I was usually bombarded with hers, so I was in the habit of sharing right back.

"I don't think I remember. Did I kiss him?" I wondered out loud.

"Sookie, you went down on the guy and never even kissed anywhere else?" she asked, astonished. Like I said, we shared.

"I guess I did kiss him." It was coming back. "You know, he kissed really soft, and his hands were everywhere and so good, it was almost like he was holding back kissing, but everywhere else, he was just, just wow."

"He has our number, maybe he'll call tonight? Did he_ think_ like he was going to call tonight?"

"I didn't get any thoughts from him at all. Yeah, maybe he'll call." I had never felt like I should sit next to the phone and wait for a guy to call, but I might wait for Eric. These guys whom I couldn't hear any thoughts from were a lot easier to be around than the average guy.

"Maybe your shields are getting better and you can be around guys more easily now, you know, not getting every thought that runs through their heads."

"That would make life a whole lot better." I got up to take a shower, and do some laundry before I had to go to work.

I ended up working later that I had planned. One of the other waitresses called in sick, and Sam, the bar's owner, asked if I could stay until ten o'clock to cover for her. Sam has been a very good boss, so I said I would. It hadn't been very busy. It was a summer Sunday night, people were just getting back from trips up north or to the lake and were at home I guessed. I hoped that Eric wouldn't call until I was home. At about 9 I was up at the bar, emptying a tray of dirty glasses from a table. Sam always played the radio station that aired "American Top 40" on Sunday nights, and I was moving along with the music. I liked the number one song - I had not had enough "Silly Love Songs" either. And I wondered if Eric was ever up for some "Afternoon Delight." I left the tray on the bar and grabbed a cloth to go wipe down the tables they had come from. I turned around and was surprised to see Bill and two other guys sitting at a booth in my section.

"Bill, you're back from Illinois already?"

"Yes, I had to go back to work. Did you enjoy your time at Marriott's?" He looked at me a little suspiciously I thought.

"Yeah, it was Great America, all right. We had a lot of fun."

"How long have you known Pam and her...brother was it?"

"Pam's been coming in here for a few years, since I started working here anyways. And Eric's her cousin, from Sweden."

"Kissing cousins I guess? They seemed pretty close." He didn't have his usual polite tone. His companions were studiously looking out the window. Maybe Amelia was right and my shielding was getting better, I was getting nothing from Bill and the other two just had static, for lack of a better description.

"Well, no, I don't think so, but I don't know him that well." Even if it were, I didn't think it was any of Bill's business.

"You should be careful with him, you don't know what some of these guy from other places are like." Well, yes I had some idea. My brother Jason had enlisted in the Air Force three years ago, in spite of all the rabid anti-military feeling left over from Vietnam. He was now stationed at Hahn Air Base in Germany, and wrote me fairly often. He didn't see any need to spare me any details of his trips to various towns, where his interests were definitely not cultural. He hadn't had any luck finding anything other than culture though, but he was still looking. So I had a real good idea what guys in another country might be thinking. And I had some idea what Eric was thinking last night too, from his actions anyways. Apparently my thoughts hadn't been far off of his either, so who would I be to talk?

"Yes, Bill, thank you, I'll be careful. What can I get you to drink?" I thought I only sounded a little sarcastic.

"Seven and Seven for me." The usual. His friends each got a Pabst, on tap. I hadn't seen them with Bill before, and he didn't introduce them. I took their drinks out and finished cleaning my tables. Bill waved me over as I was refilling napkin holders.

"How late are you working tonight?"

"Until ten."

"Are you off tomorrow? Would you like to go to a movie?"

"I'm working tomorrow again."

"How about Tuesday?" He was being persistent.

"Can you give me a call? I'm supposed to go with Amelia one night this week, and I'm not sure which." I fibbed. Amelia and I were always each other's back-up plan for unwanted date avoidance.

"I'll do that."

"I'm off work now, I have to get home; I'll talk to you later." I ducked away from his booth, to the relative sanctuary of Sam's office. I grabbed my purse and keys, and left. I saw the two guys who had been with Bill going to the parking lot at the same time as I was. They were really big guys and it might have worried me, but they went to the other end of the lot and got into their car. I got into my little Maverick, and started the drive home.

I was on the freeway, on the High Rise bridge that went over the river. Traffic was pretty light. The baseball game wasn't over yet, I could see the big lights from the stadium. By chance I was behind another Maverick, dark metallic green to my dark blue. What were the chances of that, I wondered, two Mavericks on the same bridge. As I was musing, a motorcycle came up very fast behind us, and cut in front of the other Maverick. Its driver stomped on the brakes, which squealed, and the car fishtailed to a crash against the railing. I swerved to the left and safely avoided it all, by luck more than anything else. Another car stopped behind the Maverick to help. I had slowed enough to see that the driver offering help looked like one of Bill's friends. I kept moving, as there was really no place to stop safely on the bridge. The next exit was about a quarter of a mile down the freeway. I took it and stopped at the gas station at the bottom of the exit, using the pay phone there to call the police and report the accident. They took my information, and said they'd be in touch if they needed me, but most likely both drivers' insurance companies would want to talk to me. I got in my car and drove the rest of the way home, a little shaken from watching the accident.

When I got home, Amelia was stretched on the floor watching the tail end of the late news.

"You're late," she remarked.

"Yeah, Sam needed me to work late, and Bill came in with some friends, and then there was an accident right in front of me on the bridge coming home, so I had to stop and call the cops. It was a busy night."

"Bill's back from being with his friends already? He called looking for you, but I didn't know he was back in town."

I sat on the floor by Amelia. I didn't want Bill looking for me.

"I wonder why Bill's looking for me now, I hadn't heard from him in weeks, and now he was at Marriott's last night and called and showed up at work tonight. It's just weird."

"Don't you want to know if you got any good calls?" she asked, teasingly.

"Yes...if there are good ones."

"Eric called about 10:45. How's that for a good one?"

"Is he going to call back?" I was thrilled that he'd called.

"He said he had some business and a late dinner with Pam, and he might call around midnight. I told him that wasn't too late; we're night owls until school starts again." It was 11:30 now. I went and changed out of my work uniform - the blue pants, white t-shirt and loose red shirt over it that Sam had decided was appropriate for the bicentennial year. It looked cute, but I was ready for a change. At 11:50 the phone rang. I ran to answer it.

"Hello?" I said, and I walked from the kitchen into my bedroom, stretching the cord as I went. We had put an extra, extra long cord on the phone so it could reach into either one of our bedrooms.

"Sookie, you're home? I was worried, I heard about a crash on the Freeway." It was Bill, damn it.

"Yes, I'm fine. I saw the crash right in front of me, though. A motorcycle cut off a Maverick that looked almost like mine and it ran into the railing on the bridge. I thought I saw one of your friends stop to help."

"It couldn't have been, they live the other direction. It's hard to identify faces at highway speeds anyways." Bill was always so logical.

"You're probably right," I answered, "but I'm glad to be okay."

"Well, I just wanted to see if you were home. I'll let you go to bed - alone?" he said, like that was any of his business.

"Good night, Bill." I needed Eric to call just to wash Bill out of my ears. I had been in Bill's bed twice and it had not been a good experience either time. I had no plans to go back. Ten minutes later the phone rang again. This time it was Eric.

"Hello, is this Sookie?" He had the accent going strong tonight, I loved it.

"Hi Eric, I'm glad you called."

"It is not too late for me to call, is it? Amelia said you would be up."

"Yes, I just got home a little bit ago. I had to work late and there was an accident on the freeway coming home, but it's all okay."

"An accident?" I could hear the frown in his voice.

"Yeah, a Maverick almost like mine got run into the railing on the bridge by a motorcycle. But I'm fine." I was going to have to tape the story; I was tired of telling it.

"At least you are alright," he said thoughtfully. "I was wondering if you were free on Wednesday night. I can come up after I settle some things at work, and maybe we can go out?"

"Sure, I'd love to. Anywhere special you'd like to go?" I was blushing, happy right down to my toes that he called and wanted to go out.

"Pam recommended a bar called the Mai Tai. She said it would be fun for me."

"That would be great; Amelia and I go there all the time. A friend of my boss owns it."

"I'll pick you up about 9:30 then, if that works for you." He could pick me up anytime I thought, but kept that fact to myself.

"That will be fine." I gave him our address and directions to our house and we said goodbye. The way he said good night made me have to close my eyes to think. I hung up and walked the phone back into the kitchen, coiling the cord with me as I went.

Amelia was watching the National Anthem play on the TV; it must be midnight, the station was signing off. She had earphones plugged into her transistor radio too, listening to some station playing Led Zepplin and singing along with it. I got a look at the top of the TV set for the first time that night. There was a framed Polaroid shot of me and Eric. Eric's face was right next to mine, his lips on my cheek. And the expression on my face was...embarrassing at best. I knew exactly when the picture had been taken, and I'm sure that Amelia did, too.

"I think that doesn't need to be on the TV in the living room..." I wanted to remember that moment, but it seemed a little private.

"It looks like a special moment, though. Maybe on your night table for sweet dreams? Pam said that's where she was putting Eric's copy of the picture, on his nightstand. Any luck with him tonight?

"We're going to the Mai Tai on Wednesday night..."It was one of our favorite bars to go to. It had a tropical theme, good music, good drinks and a small dance floor. They had added bronze mirrors all around the walls a few weeks ago which made it look like a huge bar; but it was really fairly small, nice for a group of people…or a first date.

"Ooohhh!" she broke in. "We'll have to go get you something special to wear! Something nicer than that pantsuit you wore the last time you went out with Bill."

"Bill is kind of a pantsuit-appreciating guy, you know? But you're right. I want something a little more...more..."

"Risqué!"

"Not that, but I don't want to look like a square either!"

"We'll find you something." I was still tired from yesterday. I picked up my picture off of the TV, carried it into my bedroom and put it on the nightstand. After all, Amelia was a witch, maybe she'd put a spell on the frame or something so it would give me sweet dreams of Eric. I washed up and went to bed.

ERIC

In the hours of darkness remaining last night, I had started the process of finding out why this telepath was so interesting to Bill Compton, other than the obvious physical attraction. I had called a Were who owed me a favor - several favors, in fact- and he was supposed to call back with information about who was working with Compton. Pam was also working on it, through her connections in Wisconsin. It had occurred to me though, that I really didn't know how good a telepath she was, if she was going to be worth the trouble. I picked up the phone.

"Pam. I need you to get some humans we can glamour some thoughts into."

"That's easy enough. Why are we doing this?" She had no right to question my motives, and I let her get away with it all the time. I must be getting soft.

"I want to know how good a telepath Sookie really is. If she's just intuitive, she's not worth much bother." Except for her taste, and how readily she came under my fingers, and the feel of her mouth wrapped around my cock, and the anticipation of sliding into her.

"Amelia seems to think she's pretty good. But I'll get some nice, tame humans for you. When do you want them?"

"I'll let you know. I'm going to call her tonight and set something up, maybe for Wednesday." If we could make them think things that Sookie couldn't help but react to, I'd know better what she could read. I had projected some thoughts at her last night, and she had not reacted to them at all, and she should have run screaming from a few of them. Or maybe run into my arms.

"Do you need me to help? I don't mind distracting Amelia again. Take her to the Mai Tai."

"Let me think about it. Let's go get something to eat."

"Let's go to Chicago. I'm in the mood for something exotic, and there is always something different on Rush Street."

Different, yes, but nothing as exotic as a part-fae telepath. It was a quick trip to Chicago in the Corvette, and we fed quickly off of a couple who would remember nothing of it. It was easy enough to lure them into an alley. It was easier to blend in with the humans on a busy street, and glamour them into going where you needed them. Much easier than sitting in a bar and nursing a drink, or dumping it into a potted plant or subtly spilling it on the floor, although the last was easy - who noticed spilled drinks in a bar? Over the centuries we had perfected our human act. It was easier to pull off in America, where people were more inclined to overlook differences in eating habits and preferences.

Pam and I usually enjoyed Rush Street when she was in the area. There were lights and bars and lots of people. It interested Pam to watch them. She really was working up in Minnesota, in a bar owned by another vampire I had some connections with; just like I was getting some ideas about entertaining humans by working at an amusement park. The vampire hierarchy had been talking about the inevitable day when we would be forced to expose our existence to humans. I hoped it would not be soon, but those of us who knew how to live among humans already would have some advantage. Some of the vampires were already consolidating their power. By now, I had vampires who owed me allegiance, just as I owed fealty to Sophie-Ann, one of the vampires in the area who was near my age and even more devious than me. If I could somehow gain a telepath in my cadre, I would know more about the humans, and my position would be strengthened. I wondered what 'position' my telepath would prefer, under me, on top? Or bent over the desk in my office, screaming my name? My thoughts were wandering, the drive back wasn't interesting enough to keep my attention.

We returned to one of my homes in the Gurnee area, the one I used for some shifter and human dealings. I never spent the day there. Pam had decorated it for me in what she said was correct for a human bachelor. The brown and orange shag rug and the brown, orange and yellow furniture weren't attractive to my eyes, but then my eyes weren't human anymore.

I sat down on the couch which was comfortable in spite of its appearance, and dialed the number Sookie had given me. She should be home by now. I didn't really approve of small human females out alone at night, but that was just my past showing through. The witch, _Amelia,_ I reminded myself, answered the phone.

"Hello, is this Amelia? May I speak with Sookie?"

"Is this Eric?"

"Yes."

"Sorry, Eric, Sookie's not home from work yet. She said she was off at eight, so she should have been here already, but maybe she stopped somewhere or worked late. Bill called looking for her; they may have gone for a drink or something." Sookie was over three hours late and the witch was not worried about her? And she was telling me that Bill had called for Sookie too? Was she worried about Bill and Sookie together or was she trying to make me jealous, like some human male? In any case, if Sookie worked out as a telepath, I was going to have to arrange some sort of security for her.

"Please tell her I called. Do you think it is okay if I call back a little later?"

"Sure, we're usually up pretty late during the summer when school is out."

"Thanks, I'll call back." Sookie had sounded sincere when she said she wasn't involved with Compton. Was that true or was she telling me what she thought I wanted to hear? Humans were likely to do that. Or was Compton after her for some reason? I picked up the phone again, and called Dawson, my favorite favor-owing Were. The phone rang about ten times before it was picked up.

"Dawson."

"Northman. Any information for me?"

"Yes and no. They're Weres working outside of a pack; they left Alcide's pack about eight or ten months ago, and started working with your vamp and someone else. No one is sure who that 'someone else' is, but they have money. And those Weres, they're a little scared of that someone, scared enough that they don't talk about him." Compton wasn't my vamp, and I might need to take measures to change that.

"So, what are they doing?"

"We know they have been scouting out people for Compton. Following them, maybe grabbing some of them. If they're grabbing them, they're careful. Not one of them has talked if they got set loose, and we haven't had any unexpected bodies lately. Some of those grabbed, no one has seen them again."

It would have been easy enough to have glamoured then into not talking, if they had been let go. And it was easy enough to dispose of bodies in the big hiding place that was Lake Michigan; I had done it myself, cleaning up after someone else's mistake. Or getting rid of bodies I had made myself. But who were they getting the people for? And were they random people or was there a method to it? And how was Sookie involved? Too many questions, and I needed answers.

"Call me if you find out any more," I ordered. "Pam!" I yelled into the house.

"Yes?" She stepped out of the kitchen, like a suburban mother.

"What have you found out about Compton?"

"Not much. I'm going to have to go up and talk to some of his _closer_ companions." She would enjoy that.

"We need to know who he's working for. And ask the witch if Sookie is really done with him or not."

"Business or personal?" I shot her a glare. She laughed.

"I'll get right on it." She went back into the kitchen and I heard her pick up the phone in there. I walked into my bedroom. I had a small desk there. I sat down, and pulled open a drawer. A small book was there with a listing of numbers, written carefully in Old Norse. I copied a few of the numbers out, and put the sheet in my pocket. I saw a new picture on my nightstand. It was one from last night, a Polaroid photo taken by the park photographer on the log flume ride. I had timed Sookie's orgasm just right, or so it appeared. I smirked, and made a mental note not to bring any other women in here – although it might be possible for Sookie to take up most , if not all, of the slack in that area.

Back in the living room, I looked to see if Pam was off the phone. She was, and I called Sookie's number again. This time Sookie picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Sookie?" As if I would not have recognized her voice.

We talked and she told me about the accident she had seen. I wondered about that accident. Was it real or plotted? How exactly were Compton's Weres grabbing people? We made plans for Wednesday night at the bar Pam had suggested.

I finalized my plans for Pam's glamoured humans on Wednesday with her. I hoped Sookie kept away from Compton until then.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: These characters still belong to Charlaine Harris. They came to Texas and asked to go play in Wisconsin and Illinois, and I let them.

Thanks to VampLover1 for being a great Beta again.

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CH3

SOOKIE

Monday afternoon I got a phone call from the Police department.

"Miss Stackhouse?" asked a pleasant-sounding officer.

"Yes."

"You called last night to report an accident on the bridge?"

"Yes I did." I assumed they wanted more details, and they did.

"Can you describe the driver of the car?"

"Not really, it was dark, even with the streetlights. It may have been a blonde girl...but really I'm not sure." I hadn't gotten a good look, just an impression as I went past.

"How about the individual you saw stop to help? Or the motorcycle rider?"

"Not really, they had dark clothes on, and it was dark and I was going pretty fast. Not speeding of course." I added, just in case.

"If you remember anything about them, can you please call this number and talk to Detective Link?" He gave me a number which I dutifully wrote down.

"Sure. Umm, was there a problem with the people?"

"There was only the Maverick on the bridge, no other car or motorcycle, and no drivers. We're checking the hospitals, but it would help if we had some description of the people involved." Well, that was odd.

"Maybe they knew each other?"

"Could be, but we'd like to know. And the driver will want to know where to pick up the car." The Detective hung up, and I went into work.

It was Tuesday morning. Amelia had worked last night too, and she was off all day. I didn't have to be at the bar until 5:00. We had both slept in late, and then Amelia insisted that we go shopping. We had been going from store to store looking for just the right outfit for me to wear out with Eric on Wednesday night. She'd found several things for herself, but everything I tried on was just not right. Too grandma, too sleazy, the color wasn't right. I was ready to say the hell with it and just wear jeans and a shirt. I didn't have a lot of patience for clothes shopping, and what I had left was eroding quickly.

"Amelia, really, I have to work tonight. I'm just going to have to wear something I already have."

"Just chill already. Let me look at this rack here. Go look at shoes or something. You need to look nice for this guy - don't you want to look good for him?" Amelia asked, annoyed by my lack of cooperation.

"Yes, but I don't want it to look like I went out of my way for it. And nothing has looked right anyways, and I want him to like me and not my clothes..." Yes, I was whining, but I was tired of looking at clothes that weren't right.

"Just go. I'll come get you if I find something." She was already looking at dresses. I really wasn't a dress person. I wandered discontentedly to the shoe section. I wasn't much good at picking out shoes either, usually gravitating to the comfortable shoes section, thinking of work or walking around campus. I passed by some blue with yellow Adidas running shoes with difficulty. Then I saw some metallic blue sandals with a small heel and three ankle straps with little silver colored buckles. I asked the sales lady to bring out a pair in my size, and they were perfect. It figured, they went with nothing I owned. Just then Amelia walked up carrying a pile of blue fabric in almost the same color as the sandals.

"Oh good, you found something for your feet," she said. "Go try this on."

She followed me over to the fitting room. I shook out what she'd given me to try on. It was a soft cotton woven fabric, with a tie at the top.

"Amelia, I don't know about this." I was nervous about how much skin it would show.

"It's a combination halter top and skirt. Just try it."

I stripped down in the dressing room for what felt like the 70th time that day. I pulled the dress on. For sure, it wouldn't work with the bra I had on; I had doubts that it would work with any bra at all. But I loved it-- it was the same color as Eric's eyes. Would he notice if I had dressed to match his eyes? I didn't know if I could pull off the no bra look, even though everyone was supposedly doing it. I thought of Eric's hand having such easy access to my breasts and shivered.

"Amelia," I called. I didn't want to parade out of the dressing room with my bra straps showing.

"It's perfect," she said, the tone of her voice leaving room for no argument.

"But I don't know if I can wear it with no bra."

"Sure you can. Or we'll go pick out a strapless one for it. It would look better without, though. The shoes match and it's just fine." It was a done deal to her.

"Well, let's look at the strapless ones then. I'd feel better if it didn't look so, so...easy for Eric." That didn't make sense, after what we'd done at Marriott's. But I wanted to look like I was more than a one-trip fling. Off we went, and sure enough, Amelia picked out a matching bra and panty set that was strapless and matched the dress, and didn't show.

"Does being a witch make you able to find stuff like this?" I asked in a low voice.

"It's a talent, one way or another," she replied smugly.

I really hated shopping. We stopped for pizza on the way home. It was too late to cook anything and still be able to get to work on time. We split a large pizza with everything on it, and took the leftovers home for a late dinner- or breakfast.

Eric called at about a quarter after ten, just as I was in the shower after getting off work. Amelia answered the phone and talked to him. I heard her giving directions to our house, and hanging up. When I got out of the shower, I wrapped a towel around my head and pulled on a nightshirt.

"Did Eric say anything about tomorrow?" I asked. I was really disappointed that he hung up before I got out of the shower.

"He just got directions. He said he was in a rush for something at work. Someone was yelling something in the background, maybe a ride got stuck or something. And he said he was looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. I'm sorry, I tried to tell him you'd only be a minute, but the yelling never stopped, so I guess he really had to go." She was rambling.

"Well, at least I'll get to see him tomorrow." We sat up and watched the news and part of Johnny Carson, and snacked on another piece of pizza before I went to bed. I just had pulled the covers up when I heard the phone ring. I ran to the kitchen to get it, hoping that it was Eric calling back, but it was just Pam calling for Amelia. Amelia came and got the phone and dragged it into the living room to talk and I went back to bed.

My night was full of dreams.

I had barely dropped off to sleep when I dreamt I was in an office with Eric. He was talking to someone I could not see, and he was not happy.

_'We need to find out why she's so interesting...I need to have her in with my group at least...just do it...'_ I wondered who he was talking about. I fell into deeper sleep.

Later in my dreams I heard Bill calling me _'Sookie...Sookie...you have to let me in...you need to come with me...'_ I could almost feel him at my window, and in my dream I rolled over and saw him there.

_'Bill, go away, let me sleep,''_ I mumbled, and drifted off again. But I woke with a start a few seconds later though -- it sounded like a fist had hit the wall. I looked around and saw nothing. Too much pizza too close to bed, I mused, and rolled over again.

Eric came back in my dreams though. I felt him snuggled up against my back, one arm underneath me holding me tight against him, the other wandering under my night shirt, massaging my breasts and playing with my nipples. He threw a leg over me and rolled me on my back, so his hand could run down my stomach and down into my panties. 'Are you ready to be wet for me, my Sookie?' he asked softly. His mouth was against my neck and I could almost feel his lips move against the skin there. I was in a frozen dream state and could not move willingly or make a sound. I felt his finger slide into me and jumped awake. Daylight was streaming through my window. I sat up with my feet on the floor to ground myself. I had always dreamed a lot, and remembered many of them, but all three of these dreams had felt so _real._ I rethought having pizza for breakfast.

I made coffee and some toast, and picked up the paper from the front lawn, then sat down at the kitchen table to eat. Amelia wandered in about ten minutes later, drawn by the aroma of coffee I supposed. We both knew better than to try to have conversation before we'd each drank a cup, so it was quiet for a little while.

"So Pam called last night," Amelia began. I nodded that I remembered, and yawned. I am not a morning person.

"She asked if I thought you would mind if she rode up with Eric tomorrow, so she and I can go somewhere while you two are out."

"I don't mind. Do you want to go to the Mai Tai too?" I asked.

While I would really like some alone time with Eric, a little voice reminded me that I really didn't know him, and I should be careful who I went out alone drinking with because of that fact. _'Thanks Gran'_ I thought, just a little put out. While Gran had always encouraged me to be a liberated woman, she also taught me to be cautious. Even though I could hear most people's thoughts, it might be the one person I couldn't hear who might mean me harm.

"Would you mind?" Amelia asked.

"No, I guess I shouldn't go out drinking with some guy I just met...maybe you and Pam can ride together though?" Maybe I'd get lucky and he'd finish what he started in my dream.

"Did you dream a lot last night? Was there something weird about that pizza?" I asked.

"No more than usual. Why, did you?"

"Yeah, I dreamt that Bill was at the window calling for me, and Eric was talking about me." I left out the last dream.

"You've got two good looking guys interested in you, so it's natural to dream about them." She was probably right.

"We'd better go to the store so we have some drinks and chips when Eric and Pam get here."

We spent the rest of the morning at the grocery store (A&P of course, Amelia knew someone that worked there named Bob and she liked to get a peek at him when she could). When we got back I decided sit out in the remaining sunlight to read and maybe take a nap for a little while. Amelia had to work from 3 until 7, but Pam and Eric said it would be about 10 before they were at our house. I had picked up a copy of Agatha Christie's _Sleeping Murder_ at the library, passing up Anne Rice's _An Interview with the Vampire_ because it seemed just a little too spooky. I read several chapters before I fell asleep again.

ERIC

Tuesday night. Pam had a meal glamoured and waiting for me when I got out of the shower. She'd never remember any of it. It was rather convenient that my child was staying in the area until I decided if this Sookie was someone I needed as part of my group. I could hear Pam and her human of the moment engaging in some post-dinner sex. It sounded like a good idea, and the little brunette Pam had selected for me didn't have any objections as I bent her over the couch in my den. While she wouldn't remember the feeding part of the evening, she might remember bits of the fucking part, so I made sure she had something worth remembering, just like I always did. She felt good enough as I buried myself in her, but at the same time I could recall how tight Sookie had been around my fingers and the abandonment with which she came on the log ride and had sucked me off. I wanted to have Sookie writhing in front of me like this girl; I was sure she would be perfect.

After I'd finished eating, and sent Pam to drop the girls off, I got dressed and went into the amusement park. My weeknight job consisted of making sure everything was closed down properly, and that all the patrons had left the park. While we had regular park security, nothing beat a vampire for finding the miscreants who thought they could hide out. I was never sure what they thought that they would do in the park at night, none of them were bright enough to operate any of the machines, and they could not have carried out anything over the fences. We also hired some shifters who enjoyed sniffing out trouble, but a vamp could glamour the person hiding into being too frightened to admit what had happened and be sure they would never try it again. Also, the fear made their blood taste even better.

I called Sookie's home, and talked to the witch, who told me that Sookie was in the shower. _'Wonder if she needs some help with that?'_ I thought, and then asked for directions to their house. There was getting to be a lot of noise. As I was talking, I heard scuffling and muffled yelling coming towards my office. I asked Amelia to hold on for a second, set the phone receiver down on my desk and opened my door cautiously.

"Mr. Northman, this guy was hanging around your car, and won't say why." The security guard, a Were, was holding him up in the air by the back of his neck. I closed the door behind them. 'This guy' was making incomprehensible but loud noises, and was also a Were, but a bitten one. I picked the phone back up.

"Amelia, if you would give my apologies to Sookie, and tell her I look forward to seeing her tomorrow, we have some problems here that I need to see to." I hung up after receiving the witch's assurances that she would pass on my message.

"I didn't know any of the packs around here were resorting to biting humans."

"None of them are," the Were growled back, shaking the guy for good measure. "There are some individual gangs around doing it to have expendable labor for jobs that aren't so above board. But they are not Pack." The Weres and shifters were going to have to start improving their structure if they wanted to avoid exposure. Letting bitten Weres run loose was just dangerous. I wondered if this one had been watched as he was picked up - he was certainly expendable now.

"What were you looking for little pup?" I asked. It was extremely unfortunate that Weres and shifters could not be glamoured. He pulled his lips into a straight line and shook his head. I took him from the Were holding him and threw him to the ground, not quite hard enough to break anything. I crouched over his form, holding him down by the neck. I smiled so he would see fang when he looked up.

"Some of us don't need the full moon for fangs, little pup. What were you looking for?" He tried to turn his head and look away, panting with terror. He had thought he was the scariest thing out in the night. The full Were stood by the door with his arms crossed, watching the little bitten Were with a bored expression. I grabbed the little one's arm and paused with my mouth over it. He was shaking and his eyes were wide. Too bad fear didn't do anything to improve the taste of shifter blood the way it did to humans.

"Tell me." I glared down at him. Where glamour didn't work, alpha posturing might and I was clearly the alpha here.

"They wanted to know if the girl was here, with you. I had to put a radio tracker on your car, but it's just for the girl, I swear man, I didn't know anything about _you_."

"What girl?"

"Some blonde, they didn't give a name, they said they missed her the other night."

"Who are you working for?"

"Alan. But it's just a job, nothing personal, you know?" I glanced at the Were and he nodded. Apparently the name was familiar to him.

I picked the little scum up off the floor by the neck and threw him to the Were.

"Hold that for a minute, I have to make some calls." I needed to speak to Pam in person. At least I already knew that Sookie had made it home without incident again. "Outside." The bitten Were seemed to have some objection to being held up in the air and was very noisy about it. I phoned Pam, and told her to meet me at my office.

"Is the park clear?" The security Were nodded.

"We can take care of him, me and Frank." Frank was another Were security guard.

"I don't want anything left." The bitten Were began shrieking at that bit of news, and I rewarded him by hitting him hard enough to stun him. It was too bad I didn't want to have blood all over my office -- I would have enjoyed tearing him to bits.

"Let's have him show us this radio transmitter." We took him to the parking lot, and he removed a small box from the wheel well of my Corvette. Maybe he thought that cooperation would buy him leniency. He didn't know Weres at all, I mused, and went back to my office. I studied the box with interest. I was going to have to start checking all of my vehicles when they had been out of my sight. And arrange to have Sookie's and Amelia's cars checked too.

When I got back to the office, Pam was waiting. I needed to have her in the bar with us, if I could, to control the humans we were planning on using to check just how good Sookie's telepathy was. "Pam, have you got your humans lined up for tomorrow night?"

"Of course. And got some information on Compton for you, too." Efficient, like a good child.

"I need you to call the witch and make an excuse for being there. I am going to need to watch Sookie."

"And I bet that 'watch her' is not all you want to do. How are you planning on testing her?"

"I want you to glamour one into thinking something just a little off, that will catch her attention. And the other one...if we can have Amelia there, he can have some thoughts about having her, like immediately in the parking lot. If she can catch both the subtle and the obvious...we should be able to find a use for her."

"Easy enough."

"Now, what about Compton?" I asked my child.

"He's been hanging out with some Weres lately. He was working at some computer company, but then he disappeared for a couple of weeks. When he came back, he started being seen with the Weres. I thought he had better taste." I had heard enough and seen enough fucking Weres in the past few nights to use up my tolerance for them. _'They do have their uses,'_ I reminded myself.

"And why is he hanging out with Weres?"

"He has said he is working on a project with them. Something to do with the computer company he is working for, or so he is trying to make it seem. He's also been seen talking to a demon." A demon. Great.

"Amelia said that Compton was trying to attract Sookie's attention for several weeks. Then when he disappeared, she heard nothing from him until he showed up at Great America the other night." Maybe it was just chance that he showed up around her in what I considered to be my territory, maybe not. I didn't like it.

"I talked to Diane earlier tonight." That was surprising, she and Diane never got along well. "She thought 'Billy' seemed a bit anxious in the last few days while he stayed with them, but she didn't know why." The phone rang.

"Northman."

"Mr. Northman, this is Dawson. I have some information for you."

"Go ahead."

"Some of our guys were watching the Weres in the gang that are working with Compton. They saw them grab a girl tonight and take off with her. They followed them, and they went out west, way out of the city. They stopped at an old farm. Our guys followed them in from the street, at a distance, and they went into the woods and just disappeared." First Compton had disappeared for a few weeks and now we had disappearing Weres and girls.

"Did they simply lose track of them?"

"No, they said they disappeared, the scent went away and the noise, 'cause the girl was screaming. Just gone. But they weren't close enough to see how they disappeared. Mark, he looked into some of the others that had disappeared, and none of them had any family or anything, they all lived alone. So no one really knows if they are gone or just went on a trip or what. And another Were was seen hanging out by your girl's house this morning."

"I want someone watching that house from now on. And both of the girls. And I want someone to meet me now who can show me where they disappeared. Let me know if you hear more." We made arrangements where to meet, and I hung up the phone and looked at Pam.

"We need to find out why she's so interesting." Was Compton grabbing people off the street and disappearing with them? She may be a better telepath than I thought. Or was there something else, maybe the Fae blood?

"Amelia thinks she's quite good," Pam reminded me.

"I need to have her in with my group at least," I told Pam, who nodded in agreement. If she was potentially valuable to others, she should be valuable to me.

"Call and make your excuse to be there tomorrow night. Then go and watch over them until Dawson's people show up." Pam glared at me.

"Just do it," I ordered. I really didn't care if she had other plans for the night.

"And take a look at their vehicles. Some Were tried to put a radio tracker on my Corvette tonight." I tossed the box at her. "Come back before morning, and we'll get your humans picked up before we go tonight. Stay at my place up by Great Lakes."

"Eric…this is really starting to sound like one of those bad spy movies you like so much. If they want that girl so badly, why don't they just grab her? Why try to track you, or are they trying to get you both together?" She was right, it didn't make sense. I shrugged.

"If they know what car is yours, they could know other things. It may be time to move from here," she continued. That thought had also occurred to me; at the very least I was going to change up the places I spent the daytime hours.

"I know," I said. I had taught her all of the caution she had now; she certainly had not been so cautious when I had caught and turned her. "Go and watch over them for now."

"As you wish, Master." She was being sarcastic again, but I knew she wouldn't mind watching over the witch.

I drove my car to one of my homes - not where Pam and I would be spending the day. I then flew up and met a Were, who showed me the area where the girl and Compton's Weres had disappeared.

"Really, we didn't see anything," the Were said sullenly. I didn't see anything, but I could smell traces of fairy and demon - apparently the Weres had not met up with either species before. I flew home, making it back just before sunrise, wondering what interest fairies and demons had in humans, and a part Fae telepathic human in specific. They had not snatched them out of their lives for many centuries. I thought that maybe I should just grab her myself and hide her away until I knew, although humans didn't always take well to that kind of treatment. I could sense Pam's presence in the other bedroom, so I knew that Dawson had filled his part of the agreement. There was a note on my nightstand: _'Saw Compton looking at Sookie's window, but it did not seem that he could approach. He ran off when he saw me. Two Weres and one shifter on guard._' It was too close to dawn to think about it. At least Sookie was being watched over, I thought as I drifted into oblivion in my bed, but not too close to think of having her naked next to me, running my hands over her body, and sliding into her. _'Are you ready to be wet for me, my Sookie' _I would ask her, knowing she would be. I could imagine the soft feel of her neck under my lips. _'One way or another, she'll be mine,'_ I thought. Then I was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: These characters still belong to Charlaine Harris. They're just playing in Wisconsin today!

I think it was FDM who said that Eric had been in Tahiti. I can vouch for that, he wasn't available around here. And he did not come back in the mood to work...

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CH4

SOOKIE

I woke up from my little nap at almost 6:30. It was a peaceful sleep this time, no dreams. I browned some steaks and put some potatoes in the oven to bake, so Amelia and I could eat before we went out tonight. I ran the vacuum over the carpet and straightened out the afghan on the back of the couch. Amelia was a neat freak, so there wasn't much to clean, but I wanted things to be nice-looking when Eric and Pam came over. Amelia got home at 7:30, and I put some frozen veggies in a pot on the stove to heat while she took a shower. Everything was ready to eat when she came out of the bathroom, dressed in just shorts and a t-shirt.

"I'll change later," she said. "I just don't want to start off the night smelling like one bar, to go to another. Doesn't make much sense, does it?" she laughed. It didn't but I understood what she meant.

"Anything exciting at Sam's today?" I asked her.

"No, same old stuff. Well, 'Uncle Niall' was in and asked how you were." 'Uncle Niall' was a regular customer; he came into the bar about once a week or more and had done so at least as long as I had worked there. If you needed a Santa Claus, Niall would be your first pick; he was old and had long pale blond hair - he just lacked the beard and mustache, and maybe could use a little more jolly. In any case, he was a good customer who tipped generously and always seemed honestly interested when he asked how I was doing. He seemed like he should have grandchildren to take fishing or flying kites. Maybe he didn't have children or grandchildren, though; I had never felt quite comfortable enough to ask him about his family.

"I'm sorry I missed him. Did you tell him I'd be in tomorrow?"

"Yes, if you boyfriend didn't wear you out tonight!"

"You did not tell him I have a boyfriend. I hardly even know Eric."

"Yes, but it makes it sound like you do more than go to work and school. He was interested, wanted to know who you were seeing and everything about the guy."

"He's never been that nosey before."

"I think he's just lonely. I doubt that he has any family around here."

We finished up dinner and I washed the dishes, figuring Amelia had seen enough dirty plates and glasses at work. I then took a shower and washed my hair. It would be cutting it close to see if my hair dried before we went out, but it also had more waves to it when it was freshly clean. I slathered lotion all over, and got dressed in the new lingerie and dress Amelia had picked out. I twirled in front of the mirror and had to admit that I looked good. I brushed out my hair and put it in a loose braid to have even more waves.

Amelia knocked and came in my room. She was dressed in a red skirt and low cut sleeveless top. She had a white jacket to go over it.

"The dress looks good," she told me but grabbed me by the arm and led me into her bedroom to sit down at her vanity table.

"Close your eyes." She proceeded to add makeup to my face. I was usually satisfied with some mascara and lip gloss, but that didn't work for Amelia. She dabbed and rubbed at my face for a few minutes, then told me I could open my eyes. I looked in her mirror. She'd done a good job, as usual. I still looked like me, but better-- not just me underneath a bunch of painted-on blue eye shadow, the current fashion for some girls.

"Thanks, Amelia" I went back into my bedroom to grab a sweater to carry with. It was warm right now, but later in the night the wind usually changed to blow off of the lake, and it would be cool out. We both sat down in the living room to wait. We watched the end of "Baretta" (Amelia loved that cockatoo) and watched most of "Charlie's Angels." While we waited. I got the fidgets. I couldn't wait to see Eric again. I got up and put some chips in a big bowl and carried it over to the coffee table. I sat for a minute then got up and poured myself a coke, then got up and double-checked that we had ice in the freezer.

"Sit!" commanded Amelia. "You're going to wear yourself out before Eric gets a chance to wear you out. Why are you so nervous?"

"Well, what if he's just doing this to be polite, you know, to one of Pam's friends? What if he gets another look at me and I'm not his type? What if he gets mean when he drinks or something?" I could have gone on, getting it out of my system but Amelia told me to hush.

"Sookie, honestly, if he didn't want to see you, he would have lost your number or something. And I don't think Pam would let you be around him if he was nasty or mean. How do you come up with this stuff?"

"I don't know." I took a deep breath. "You know Bill was weird, but even he lost interest in going out with me."

"Eric's not Bill. Give the guy a chance." I knew she was right. I concentrated on watching the end of "Charlie's Angels."

"Guess what? The girls caught the bad guy again!" I told Amelia. She laughed, apparently relieved that at least my sense of humor had returned.

"Hey, I almost forgot, I redid the wards on the house yesterday, you'll have to make sure Pam and Eric are invited in by name when they're here." Good thing no one came over last night.

"Every time or just the first time they come in?"

"They should be okay with just the first time."

"Do we need to re-invite everyone in?" I didn't get a lot of company, but it would be embarrassing to watch them bounce off the side of the house - I could never figure out how we'd explain that happening to someone, but I also guess that someone would be embarrassed to admit it. - 'hey, I came up by your house and it bounced me back.'

"It wouldn't hurt to re-invite them. I already have the mailman and paperboy allowed in. It should just keep strangers from crossing thresholds though, if Octavia is right." Octavia gave witch lessons to Amelia every other week or so. I called it witch lessons; Amelia called it working on her craft. The news started with a preview of tomorrow's weather (sunny and 80 degrees, cooler by the lake), and we heard a car pull up outside. I got up to turn the volume down a little on the TV, and Amelia went to answer the door.

"Hi guys, Pam, come in. Good to see you again Eric, please come in." Pam came in first. She was wearing double-knit pants that fit just right with a cute twinset sweater. She followed Amelia into the living room and Eric trailed after them. He looked better than I remembered. He had on jeans and a blue button-down shirt. There was just a peek of blond chest hair showing over the top button. I picked up my soda and took a deep drink; Eric was enough to make my mouth go dry.

"Hi Pam, Hi Eric." I squeaked out. "Can I get either of you something to drink?"

"No thanks" answered Eric. He walked over and stood next to me. "I'm glad to see you again. Have you been avoiding accidents?"

"Yes, I have. Nothing since Sunday night, anyways! Sit down, please." I motioned to the couch. He sat first, and I sat down a polite distance from him. He looked at me and smiled, but I felt like he was taking in everything in the house all at the same time. Maybe it was the first time he was in a regular American girl's house. Pam and Amelia stepped out of the patio door into the back yard, so Pam could see how Amelia had decorated the patio, or so they said.

"Amelia said you had some sort of commotion the other night when you called?" I began.

"Yes, someone snuck some alcohol into the park, and he was drunk and didn't want to leave. He was quite noisy about it. You work at a bar; you know what drunks are like." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, some of them aren't very nice."

"I am sorry I didn't get to talk to you myself," Eric said apologetically.

Pam and Amelia came in from the patio. "Are we ready to go?" asked Amelia. "Pam and I will drive over together, if that's okay with you two." She knew darn well it would be fine with me, maybe she asked for Eric's benefit.

"Sure." I stood up and grabbed my jacket. Eric put a hand on my waist and moved us to the door. He opened it and ushered us out. Pam and Amelia followed us, and Amelia locked the door. Eric's car was parked behind Amelia's Nova. It was the prettiest red Corvette I'd ever seen. I had never been in one before. He held the door for me to get in, and I almost wished I had worn pants instead of a dress; I'm sure Eric saw a lot of leg as I tried to sit neatly. He closed the door and came over and slid gracefully into the driver's seat. I gave him directions to the Mai-Tai, and he started out. He drove very fast... I had my hands clenched in front of me. He reached over and grabbed one and held it.

"Scared?" He had a devilish sort of smile.

"I don't think I ever rode with someone going quite this fast."

"We'll be fine," he said. And he was right. Pam and Amelia weren't too far behind us after we arrived at the bar. Maybe it had just felt like we were going fast. Amelia parked between Eric's car and a van that had a "If you see this van rockin', don't bother knockin'" bumper sticker. '_Ew_' I thought, then imagined Eric being in the van, which changed my entire outlook. He held my hand as we walked into the bar.

We were lucky and got a little round table for four in the corner. The waitress came over and got our drink orders – a gin and tonic for me, strawberry daiquiris for Amelia and Pam, while Eric got a bottle of Pabst.

"I'll try the local brew, once" he said with a smirk. The waitress brought our drinks out. The music was loud and there was a pretty good crowd for a Wednesday night. Pam and Amelia were comparing their latest shopping trip. Fortunately Amelia didn't bring up that I had been with her and bought this dress just for Eric. His eyes were running over everything in the bar, taking it all in. There was a lot to take in. It was decorated in the Midwestern adaptation of what a tiki bar should look like. There were grass skirts high up on the wall, some party lights, and carved coconuts on the shelves behind the bar. The smoked glass mirrors on the walls made it seem bigger than it was. Eric and I were talking about his car, and I was telling him how badly Jason had always wanted a Corvette, but had broke down and gotten a Trans Am in Germany. Eric slid his chair over, closer to mine to hear me better over the music. He was sitting about six inches away from me and as he moved while talking, he occasionally brushed up lightly against my arm or leg. It made me shiver a bit every time he touched me.

A guy came and sat at the table immediately next to ours. He was thinking about how easy it was to take wallets out of people's purses and jackets while they were drinking, so much money to be made that way, so much easier that trying to knock them down on the street and get them. I looked over my shoulder at him He didn't look like a thief, but who can tell? I moved my purse to sit between me and Eric. Eric looked at me inquiringly as I did it, but said nothing. I already knew his wallet was in his jacket pocket. I would just keep an eye on Mr. Potential Thief, and hope he didn't go after anyone's stuff.

Amelia and I got up and danced a little bit. She danced with a couple of the guys who were there, one or two of them we'd seen there before. One seemed very taken with Amelia, holding her closer to dance than I would have been comfortable with. He walked her back to the table and offered to get her a drink. He came back carrying one of the bar's signature mai-tai's, in a glass molded and painted to look like a statue of a Polynesian god. I caught a few thoughts from him suddenly: '_all that booze mixed together, she'll never taste it, just gotta get her outside and in the van…'. _I saw what he planned on doing in the van, and that he had slipped something into her drink. He put the drink on the table in front of Amelia, and excused himself to use the rest room.

""Don't drink that Amelia," I said urgently. She looked at me questioningly. "It's got...he put something in it." It was Eric's turn to look at me, his face full of questions.

"You saw him do this?" he asked.

"No," I answered. Crap. "I, uh, heard him think about it." Now he would think I was nuts. He and Pam looked at each other, eyebrows raised almost like mirror images.

"I can hear what people think, sometimes. I don't know how to explain it," I said it a small voice.

"She can," Amelia confirmed.

"You can hear everyone?" asked Eric.

"No, a lot of people, but not everyone. Not even everyone here." Maybe he'd put it off to too much gin already and forget about it by morning.

""What did you hear from this man?"

"He put something in Amelia's drink to make her come out to his van with him, so he could, ummm, have his way with her," I said in a rush.

"I'll take care of this." He got up and as the guy came out of the men's room, Eric grabbed his upper arm and walked outside with him. Amelia took the spiked drink up to the bar and asked them to dump it. She was a little shaken, but not as upset as I would have been. Pam had talked quietly to her while Eric was gone, and she had calmed down.

Eric came back a few minutes later.

"I believe he won't think doing anything like that is a good idea again," he said. He moved his chair so he was sitting right up against me and put his arm around me, rather protectively I thought.

"Eric, you didn't beat him up or anything?" I asked, hoping he hadn't.

"I didn't need to. He seemed to see things my way," he said with a smirk.

"You're chilly, Eric. Is the wind coming off the lake?" His jacket was cool as he leaned against me.

"Yes, it has cooled down quite a bit. And I think I'm sitting under the air conditioning vent. Are you cold?" he asked politely.

"No, I'm fine." I felt like things had warmed up appreciatively with his arm around me.

"I ordered us a drink while I was at the bar." Amelia said with a sneaky smile as she came back to the table. Uh oh. The real specialty drink of the bar was being delivered to our table. It came in a large ceramic bowl with four straws. It was some sort of very tasty rum punch. They floated four apricot halves in it, like little boats and put a cherry in each half. They also poured apricot brandy on top, lit it and brought it flaming to the table. I always tried to convince Sam to serve something similar at his bar, but he was sure some patron would set the bar on fire. The waitress set the bowl down carefully on our table, and Amelia and I blew out the flames. Pam and Eric were looking at us like they were watching some arcane native ritual. They leaned back, almost like they were afraid of the fire.

"Come on, it's fun!" Amelia told them. "Everyone gets a straw, we sink the apricots and cherries and you have to find the cherries on the bottom with your straw." It was fun, or it seemed like it was after you had a fair amount of rum punch in you. I was glad I wasn't driving home; the rum on top of the gin was likely to be an interesting combination. Eric had just two beers the whole night. He was holding his straw like he wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

"Go ahead, chicken, the alcohol kills all the cooties from everyone else!" I told him. He cautiously dipped his end of the straw into the bowl and moved it around. Amelia had found one cherry already; Pam had come up with a second, and took it from the end of the straw and fed it to Amelia. Amelia came up with the third one.

"Come on, Sook, Eric, surely one of you can get a cherry!" Amelia taunted. I blushed, and then my straw hit the last cherry on the bottom. I stabbed it a little with my straw and used suction to pull it to the top. I took it from the end of my straw and then something bad came over me. I looked at Eric, who was watching me closely, and I licked all of the punch off of the cherry before holding it between my teeth for a moment, then bit down. He closed his eyes for a second as I did so, and then looked at me with his smirk in full force.

"Would you like to use that tongue anywhere else?" He turned sideways in his chair so he was facing directly towards me, and reached into the bowl and pulled out an ice cube with his long fingers. He held it for a minute, then licked it, and reached over to whisper right in my ear.

"I can think of places to have you lick. I can think of places I'd like to lick," and he followed that by running the tip of his tongue around my ear and down my neck. It was cool from the ice and I shivered. He brushed my lips lightly with his. He sat back a bit, and traced a finger down my arm. It was my turn to close my eyes. His finger traced my arm. and then down around the back of my dress. I shivered, and it wasn't entirely from the cold. I wanted to wrap myself around him. It was suddenly very hot in the bar. I heard loud laughing and looked up to see both Pam and Amelia out on the dance floor. They were having a great time. Amelia came running over to the table and grabbed my arm.

"Come on Sookie, dance with us!" I gave Eric a helpless look and stood up. I knew Amelia when she was like this. I took one last good sip out of the punch bowl and went out to dance. I saw Eric get up and go to talk to someone standing by the door. He was frowning and seemed to ask several terse questions. He didn't seem to like the answers, and I was glad he had never looked at me like he was looking at whoever he was talking to - he really seemed angry. Then I got swept into the dance for a little while. We danced for four or five songs, I lost count. That fruit punch had really gotten to me, and I was being a little silly. It felt warmer in the club, and I went back to the table for another drink. Eric wasn't there, but the guy he had been talking to was. Pam and Amelia were right behind me. Pam looked at the guy.

"Dawson." Apparently she knew him.

"Pam." No one introduced us, so I took it into my own hands.

"I'm Sookie Stackhouse and this is my roommate Amelia Broadway." We shook hands after Dawson stood up to greet us. He was a big guy, if not as tall and broad as Eric.

"I'm Tray Dawson." We all sat down, and the waitress brought out another bowl of rum punch. We briefed Tray on the rules and everyone took a straw and started the cherry hunt.

"Where's Eric?" I asked belatedly.

"He had to make a phone call and didn't want to do it from in here," said Tray. It was pretty loud. "He asked me to sit with you until he gets back." Amelia was eyeing Tray speculatively.

"Are you a friend of Eric's?" Amelia asked. Well, I didn't think Eric would ask someone to sit with us that wasn't a friend, but I could read that she was more than a little interested in Tray.

"I do some security work for him." he answered nonchalantly, and came up with a cherry a few seconds later. He presented it to Amelia, who blushed.

We sat and talked for a while, and nearly emptied out all of the rum punch looking for the last cherry. I was the lucky one who found it, and wished that Eric was back so I could give it to him. He wasn't, though, so I ate it. Amelia and I got up to find the bathroom. I drank more than I thought I had; I felt a little wobbly, but I also felt the silly kind of happy, too. Amelia had left the bathroom instead of waiting for me, and was out on the dance floor with Tray when I returned to the table. Pam was watching them with a bemused expression. I wondered if I was the only one that was a little tipsy. So I asked Pam.

"It would appear so," she told me, smiling. "So what do you think of Eric?"

"He seems really nice. Is he 'taken' back home?" Stupid rum punch had turned off my ability to control my questions to what was polite.

"No, he's quite free," she answered. "Would you be interested in 'taking' him?" She had a sly smile as she asked it. I had to blush.

"Well, he's real interesting, but I don't know very much about him. I'm just a college student and a waitress at a bar, and he's so..." I didn't want to let on how attracted I was to him.

"I think he's rather taken with you, since he drove up here to see you for a few hours," she observed. I supposed that she was right. It was the same thing that Amelia had tried to tell me. Suddenly there were hands on my shoulders. I jumped and turned to look and see who it was and found my face embarrassingly near a part of Eric that it had been not so embarrassingly near during our Tunnel of Love ride. I blushed even deeper and turned away.

"Phone call taken care of?" I asked.

"Yes. Come and dance with me?" I stood up, well wobbled up, and took his hand. He laughed a little at me; we headed to the dance floor. I'd really had too much of the rum punch, and it felt like a good excuse to be too close to him for polite company. I pressed my face into his shirt. He was still cool from being outside. He smelled good too, and it felt great having him hold me. I was as close to him as I could get, I thought. He ran a cold hand under the back seam of my dress and pulled me even closer. Even through his jeans I could feel that he was really happy to have me so near. I tried to back away a little and he held me tight.

"You're not going away from me," he whispered. "After all, we don't want everyone to see what you do to me. Have I mentioned how much I like you in this dress?"

"Eric, we're not going to fix _that_ out here." At least I didn't think so. Not that I didn't want to.

"No, but we'll get it under control. And I can show you what you do to me again later?" I looked up at him and he was smirking. I was ready to jump him right then, if he only knew it.

"I think I'd like that," I said and ran one hand down his back and over his butt, and immediately was embarrassed. I couldn't believe I had said that out loud or did that in front of everyone. I peeked around him and saw Amelia give me a thumbs-up. I really should have known better than to mix gin and rum.

"It's late, almost time to leave," Eric told me. He hands slid around my waist and he suddenly picked me up and spun me around. I felt like I was flying. He held me up in the air for a few seconds, kissed me and set me back down.

"Wow, Eric." Now I was wobbly.

"Care to see how else I can make you dizzy?"

"Uh, maybe?" I answered, not thinking straight. He led me back to the table. I saw Tray and Amelia exchanging pieces of paper - phone numbers, I thought. It was after one in the morning, the bar would be closing soon.

"I'll be in the bathroom for a second," I told Eric, and he let me leave. I walked towards the restroom doors, and decided I needed a breath of fresh air. Between Eric, the rum, the gin and the dancing, I was way too warm. I stepped out of the glass door, and leaned against the brick of the building's front. It had gotten almost cold out for July; no wonder Eric had been so chilly when he came back in from his phone call. I wondered where he'd gone to make a call, there weren't any businesses nearby that were open. He must have found the gas station a few blocks over, I decided. I closed my eyes and was thrilled that things weren't spinning. Maybe I hadn't drunk that much after all. I wondered what Eric wanted to do when we left the bar. I wouldn't mind taking him home; if we were noisy, Amelia (and Pam?) could just get over it.

I heard the thoughts of someone coming near me, at a run it seemed. He was very fast. I couldn't catch much of his thoughts, they were sort of black and blurry, but what I did get was 'finally alone.' Was he running from someone? Then I felt my arm grabbed, and I was pulled off the wall and towards the parking lot. I just had time to give a yelp before a cold hand covered my mouth.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

A/N *_'Thanks for coming back Eric, I thought you left forever'*_

Yes, Eric finally returned from where ever he was, and he was ready to work too! What a relief! I don't think he cares much for my graduate courses (Why worry about fixing an airplane when you can fly yourself?), so I am glad to be almost done with this semester.

MANY thanks to my fantastic beta VampLover1. People do this without betas? I'm glad I don't. You're glad I don't!

These characters still belong to Charlaine Harris, whose autograph I hope to get next week in Shreveport! Maybe some of her great writing will rub off on me...

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Chapter 5

Eric POV

I woke in the evening long before Pam. Tonight I would know if Sookie was worth my pursuit, at least as a telepath. If I could glamour her, she might be interesting as an occasional sex partner too, especially with her trace of fairy blood. I wondered where that touch had come from. There were certainly humans with a bit of fairy blood everywhere, but Sookie's seemed to be more condensed or potent than others'.

I made plans to move my daytime resting place. I had four in the local area, as well as the more public 'bachelor pad' that Pam had set up for me. If someone was trying to track my car, was it because of Sookie or something else? I decided to abandon all of the places I had used in the last two or three months and get new ones. Pam had suggested that perhaps it was time to move out of the area entirely. I felt she might be right, but I also wanted to know who was trying to track me. If they were doing it here, there was no saying that they wouldn't try to follow me everywhere I went. I packed up the few things I needed to take with me and had them ready to load in Pam's car once the sun had completely set. It didn't take long, and I had time to sit and think.

If Sookie was a decent telepath, she would be invaluable. To know what humans around us were thinking would solve many problems. Just knowing if the humans with whom we had dealings were suspicious about us would be useful; it really wasn't practical to glamour everyone we came into contact with. Even the Weres and shifters who we did business with might be interested in her services. She could be quite the little money-maker, if used properly. How to use her though was a question that I had not answered yet to myself. The easiest way to have absolute control over Sookie would be to turn her. However, turning humans with psychic ability didn't always work out. Some of them lost their power altogether. Some had even better powers. A few fought the change so hard that they didn't turn at all, they remained dead. It was a chancey thing to do without knowing her better. I could blood-bond to her, but then again I didn't know her well enough for that yet, either. Some humans were ridiculously difficult to control and had to be destroyed. Some psychic types didn't do well with Vampire blood in them. And also, what would the mix of human, Fae, and Vampire blood create? It was possible she'd become an entirely new sort of monster.

Or perhaps a simpler solution: she should just be allowed to find out that Vampires existed. She didn't seem to have a problem with a witch as a roommate and was a more than a little abnormal herself. That was the least likely scenario in my mind, however.

I showered and got dressed for the night. Pam was awake by the time I was ready.

"Do you want to eat here or get something on the way? Dine in or take out?" she laughed, apparently in a good mood.

"Can you bring something here to eat? We won't be using this place again," I told her. She raised her eyebrows at me.

"The girls next door find you to be extremely attractive. Will one of them do?"

"If it works for you." I really wanted a good taste of part-Fae telepath, but it wouldn't do to start out the night hungry. Pam left and came back about five minutes later with two brunettes. I recognized them from renting the apartment next door, but forgot their names as soon as Pam told them to me. She took one by the hand into the back bedroom. I played nice with the other for a few minutes before I had her glamoured and bent over the back of the couch. She came calling the name of her God; I got a decent feed from her shoulder. I healed the marks on her and glamoured her a little more. All she would remember was a really spectacular time with someone she had met at a bar. I thought that would be a good memory for Sookie to have tonight, as an honest memory. Pam finished up with her human, and led them both out. She came back about fifteen minutes later.

"Your telepath testers are loaded and waiting," she informed me. We drove up to the bar. It was a short drive, about 45 minutes. Pam had been there before, with Amelia. She had followed behind me in her larger car, with two non-descript (even for humans) males in the back seat. She parked in the lot next to the bar and glamoured them with appropriate instructions. They lay down together like good boys in the back seat, and she hid them with a blanket. She got into my car and we drove to the witch's house.

"Don't scare Sookie with your driving," she reminded me. "She is only human; it wouldn't do to have her heart stop before we have a chance to turn her." I gave her a sharp look. "If you _want_ to turn her, of course," she amended. "I, myself, would like her more as a Vampire than as a soft, fluffy little human, if you decide to keep her around," she added. That was Pam. I had taught her the mantra of "Vampires First" and sometimes I thought she had learned even better than I. Of course she had as many uses for humans as I did, but I had taught her to use and dispose of humans just as I had been taught by my maker. It was part of being a Vampire.

We arrived at the house and parked in the driveway. I could smell at least two Weres in the area. _'They had better be the Weres that Dawson had hired, and not some of Compton's allies __scavenging around,'_ I thought. There was no way to tell, unless they made a wrong move. I could sense magic wards around the house that strengthened as we got closer. It would be surprising if anyone would be able to get near Sookie if she was in the house. Amelia opened the door and invited us in. Fortunately, that seemed to be required by her wards; there was no awkward moment trying to deal with the more specific magic that keeps uninvited vampires out of dwellings.

Sookie greeted us rather shyly. She was dressed in a blue dress that left an appreciable amount of her back bare, and I intended to appreciate it fully. I could smell no other recent Vampires or Weres in the house, so apparently the wards were doing their job. I asked Sookie if she had been avoiding accidents. She told me she had. Maybe they wouldn't try that particular method again. I sat on the couch at her invitation. I took in the details of the house, as Vampires usually do, mostly noticing entrance and exits. If you asked me later, I would be able to tell everything that was in the room when I was there. Pam and the Witch stepped out the patio door, into the back yard. I knew that Pam would be scanning the area for Vampires and shifters. Sookie and I talked about the background noise the witch had overheard during my phone call - drunken humans were a useful excuse for many things, especially if those things involved loud yelling or screaming.

We talked until Pam and Amelia came in from the patio. Pam shook her head slightly at me, and I knew that she had noticed nothing out of the ordinary in the yard. The girls decided they were ready to leave and we went out to the cars. I opened the car door for Sookie, which Pam had assured me was required of human males. As she slid into the passenger seat, I saw a nice bit of thigh that made me appreciate the dress she was wearing even more. I slid into the driver's seat and started following the directions Sookie gave me to the bar. She was a little wide-eyed on the freeway.

"Pam tells me that driving as if I am still in Sweden might be too fast?"

"We usually don't drive this fast here. Of course, I don't think my car could go this fast." Her hands were held tightly together on her lap. I reached over and took one in mine.

"Scared?" I asked her. She seemed nervous but not overly frightened.

"I don't think I ever rode with someone going quite this fast."

"We'll be fine," I told her confidently. We got to the bar in good time, and I parked next to Pam's car. Her humans still seemed to be doing well enough in their enforced down-time. Amelia parked between my car and some very unattractive van. I understood that some humans saw them as an ideal place for sex. I preferred to be able to move around more. But I would gladly take Sookie in one right now, if she were willing.

We walked into the bar. It was a typical human place. I noted to myself that if I ever owned a bar, it would not be decorated in such an unappealing way. We sat in a corner table and ordered our drinks, talking for a while about nothing in particular. She told me about her brother, and I wondered if he also had a touch of Fae in him. It might be worth talking to someone in Germany, to have them check it out. Sookie relaxed with her drink and the small talk. I brushed a hand against her, every now and then. She shivered a few times when I touched her, but I could put that down to the coolness of my hands. She didn't seem to sense anything different about me. That was good, you could never tell with telepaths and other psychics. I knew that Amelia had never noticed anything either, unless she had remained surprisingly closed-mouthed about it. Pam would have dealt quickly with any problem like that. I nodded at Pam and she excused herself to the restroom. Fortunately, she managed to slip away without Amelia's company. She headed out the door of the bar and went to get her humans ready. She came back to the table and nodded back at me. I didn't think Sookie even noticed that Pam had left.

A few minutes later, one of the 'hired' humans came in and sat at a vacant table next to us. He ordered a drink and seemed to be looking around normally. Sookie didn't react to him immediately. Then she turned slightly to glance at him once or twice, and finally turned and looked at him over her shoulder. She didn't say anything but moved her purse further under the table and between us. I looked over at Pam, and she nodded and smiled. Sookie had seemed to pick up on this test. What impressed me was that she didn't make a huge fuss about it; she just quietly made things more secure. He wouldn't know his thoughts had been read, and no one else in the area would either. _'What if you had a telepath in your company and no one else knew,'_ I thought. It would give me the ability to react preemptively to dangers I might not know even existed._' How much more secure we would be...one more little test tonight and I'll know if I need to make her mine.'_

While I was musing, she stood up out of my reach.

"Come dance with us?" she asked, laughing. Pam and Amelia were already moving to the dance floor.

"Maybe later. I'll watch." I both wanted and didn't want to be close to her. I did watch her dance. Watching her kept me busy while I observed Pam's second human. He had walked in and looked like a normal human in a bar for some time. Then he got up and started dancing with Amelia. After several songs, they came back to the table.

"Let me buy you a drink, babe." He went up to the bar and came back carrying some concoction in an odd-shaped glass. He put the drink on the table in front of Amelia and excused himself to the rest room.

"Don't drink that, Amelia," Sookie said as soon as he was out of earshot. "It's got... he put something in it."

"You saw him do this?" I asked her.

"No," she answered. "I, uh, heard him think about it." I looked at Pam. Sookie was willing to admit it to us. I'm sure we looked incredulous, so she continued to explain.

"I can hear what people think sometimes. I don't know how to explain it," she said in a small voice.

"She can," Amelia confirmed.

"You can hear everyone?" I asked her

"No, a lot of people, but not everyone. Not even everyone here." I wondered if she could hear Weres or shifters at all. I also wanted to know how specific _what_ she heard was.

""What did you hear from this man?" I asked.

"He put something in Amelia's drink to make her come out to his van with him, so he could, ummm, have his way with her," she said. I would have to check with Pam to see how correct that was.

"I'll take care of this." I rose, and as the human came out of the men's room, I grabbed his upper arm and walked outside with him.

I came back a few minutes later, having glamoured the man and sent him on his way. Pam would have to set loose the other one when she had a chance, but really if she didn't, some confused guy in a bar was not abnormal.

"I think he won't think doing anything like that is a good idea again," I told Sookie when I came back in. I moved my seat so I was sitting right up against her. I draped an arm around her,which she didn't seem to mind.

"Eric, you didn't beat him up or anything?" she asked, concerned about the well being of some human she didn't even know who might have tried to hurt one of her friends. She would have to be taught caution.

"I didn't need to. He seemed to see things my way."

"Eric, you're chilly. Is the wind coming off the lake?" She had noticed a temperature difference. Some humans did, others didn't. It was usually explained easily enough.

"Yes, it's cooled down quite a bit. And I think I'm sitting under the air conditioning vent. Are you cold?" I asked her.

"No, I'm fine." She leaned against me, comfortable with me. I liked that.

Amelia had ordered a drink while she was at the bar. It was brought to the table in a large bowl. It had flames licking the surface, and Pam and I instinctively leaned away from it. Amelia proceeded to drown the fire, explaining some arcane ritual involving cherries and straws. I did not believe I had ever used a straw before. I followed Pam's example and played at looking for the cherries. Amelia found the first one and Pam the second. I eyed her, wondering just what she would do with it, and she casually fed it to Amelia. I needed to find the last of the dammed things before Sookie could think of trying to feed it to me, but Sookie came up with it, anyways. I expected having to do something to avoid the cherry, but Sookie licked it clean of alcohol with a neat pink tongue, held it between her teeth and bit down. It was a clear reminder of her mouth on my cock last Saturday, and I closed my eyes for a second remembering just how good she had been.

"Would you like to use that tongue anywhere else?" I turned and faced her, and pulled an ice cube out of the bowl. No sense in getting her concerned about cold hands without a reason. I held it for a minute, licked it, and reached over to whisper in her ear.

"I can think of places to have you lick. I can think of places I'd like to lick," I told her then ran the tip of my tongue around her ear and down her neck, tasting her. She shivered, and I wondered if it was because of the ice or something more. I brushed my lips lightly over hers and then sat back to remind myself not to take her right there. I ran a finger down her arm and around the back of her dress. She shivered again. I could leave with her right now, I thought. I _should_ have taken her right then, out of the bar and to one of the places I had set up that would be safe. There I could take my time and fuck her into being glamoured. Or just fuck her. I wanted her naked with me, wanted to wrap myself around her. She had been so uninhibited at the park; I wanted to have her at a private place. At the very least, I could give her a little of my blood to tie her to me, to see if I might have any type of control over her. I wanted this little telepath for more than just the blood I usually wanted from a human. I wanted her to be mine, mine to feed from and fuck and use, and mine to protect from fairies and demons and other vampires. Even as I thought it, I knew it was unusual. Maybe there was something in the fairy blood that would help keep her safe around vampires? That would be an interesting mutation. Just as I was about to suggest to Sookie that we leave and go someplace more private, the witch came running over to the table and grabbed her arm.

"Come on Sookie, dance with us!" Sookie gave me a helpless look and stood up. I let the witch take her out to dance, because at the same moment I had seen Dawson come in the front door. He didn't look directly at me, but I knew something important had happened, or he wouldn't be here. I stood up to talk to him.

"Dawson."

"Mr. Northman." I just looked at him, waiting for more.

"Word among the Weres is that you are a target. They're supposed to take you alive if they can, preferably with the girl."

"And who has requested this?"

"All we've heard was to grab you or both of you, and call Alan for further directions." I was going to have to have words with this Alan and told Dawson to find him for me.

"I'm already working on that. But, well, I don't know if it's related... you know the house where I met with you? There was a fire there today, a gas leak they say. A couple of neighborhoods had some gas leaks today, in buildings. And fires, too."

"I want 'Alan' found immediately. Or someone important to him."

"Absolutely."

"Stay with Pam and the girls. I need to make some calls."

I stepped outside and deeply inhaled. I could smell no Weres nearby, other than Dawson. No one was around, so I jumped to the bar roof then flew to check two of the buildings I had arranged leases for earlier tonight. There was no scent of vampire or Were other than Dawson around either building, so perhaps I was ahead of them for now. I flew back to the bar. Maybe I would be able to keep both myself and Sookie safe.

I walked into the bar. Dawson was sitting at the table with the girls and Pam. I came up quietly behind Sookie and put my hands on her shoulders. She and Pam had been talking about me as I came in. Pam was being good, trying to attach Sookie to me already. It would make things easier if she came to me willingly, no matter which way I took things.

"Phone call taken care of?" Sookie asked.

"Yes. Come and dance with me?" I felt the need to have her in my arms and watch her move next to me, if not on top of me. She stood up unevenly. She'd had a lot to drink tonight, apparently. Since she was not too steady on her feet, I took her hand, laughing at her and guiding her out to the dance floor. If she couldn't stand on her own, she'd have to lean against me, and that's exactly what she did. She had her face pressed against my chest. I inhaled the scent of her hair, thinking '_mine, mine, mine_.' I pulled her closer to me, even though that made me almost uncomfortably hard. She tried to back away a little, and I held her tightly. _Mine._ But she had certainly drunk too much to be an honestly willing partner tonight. I could fuck someone who had been glamoured, but I really did not care for someone drunk. I didn't want it to be like that with Sookie. I wanted to know everything she felt as I found all of her special spots, and she screamed my name. And if she passed out, I wanted it to be because it was so good, not just from an alcoholic haze. I wanted her to remember it and want more.

"You're not going away from me," I told her. "After all, we don't want everyone to see what you do to me." My throbbing erection was very hard evidence of that. "Have I mentioned how much I like you in this dress?"

"Eric, we're not going to fix _that_ out here." She was right about that. For now.

"No, but we'll get it under control. And I can show you what you do to me again later?" She looked up at me, and I smiled at her.

"I think I'd like that," she said and ran a hand down over my butt. It was an unexpected action, but I appreciated it nonetheless.

"It's late, almost time to leave," I told her. I slid my hands around her waist, picked her up and spun her around. I held her up in the air for a few seconds, kissed her and set her back down.

"Wow, Eric." She was very wobbly now.

"Care to see how else I can make you dizzy?" I looked into her eyes, but even drunk and dizzy, she was still too shielded to glamour.

"Uh, maybe?" she answered. I led her back to the table. Dawson and the witch were exchanging phone numbers. It was after one in the morning, the bar would be closing soon.

"I'll be in the bathroom for a second," Sookie told me. I let her go since it was just around the corner. While Dawson was making plans to call the witch, I motioned to Pam. She came over, and I quietly told her about the fires where we had been staying. She had several places to stay in this area already. I had almost decided that Sookie would be safer in her own home for tonight, at least until I decided what to do with her on a more permanent basis. I heard Sookie yelp from the outside of the building. I was out the doors before I had time to fully consider why she was outside.

I paused outside the door. Which way had she gone? I heard a noise in the parking lot and sped in that direction. The scents were those of Sookie and a human, not Were as I had expected. I saw Sookie struggling in a dark car. A human male was driving the car and shouting at Sookie at the same time.

"You have got to get away from them! You don't know what they want to do with you!" he was yelling. The car was pulling out of the lot. I was almost on top of it when I was knocked sideways by one Were and pinned down by another that had shifted into wolf form.

I was still under the wolf while I watched Pam come up silently behind the other Were. She snapped his neck with one blow and he fell to the asphalt. The wolf made the mistake of glancing away at the noise and I threw him over, snapping both forelegs in the process. I wanted to snap his neck too, but I needed information first. The pain made him start to transform back to human form. As soon as Pam saw that I had him under control, she picked up the body of the one she had killed and put it in her car. I took the now naked Were by the neck and threw him on top of the body.

"Tie him, too. And gag him." She opened the trunk to get the appropriate materials. Dawson had come outside with the witch during the short fight, but he made sure to keep her back turned, distracting her attention while we worked. A few minutes passed by while we cleaned up.

"Keep an eye on the witch," I commanded Pam. I was ready to take to the air and search for the car that had taken Sookie away when I caught the strong scent of Fairy. I looked around the parking lot and saw Niall Brigant standing there, looking at me.

"You don't seem to be able to keep hold of psychics," he remarked. I didn't try to justify myself with an answer.

"I can find her," he began. "But you'll have to bring her back." The Fairy gave a sigh as he spoke. "Are you willing?"

I nodded. I wasn't entirely sure why I wanted this telepath, or what Brigant's connection to her was, but I would try to get her back. 'Because she should be of value to me and not someone else,' the pragmatic side of myself noted. I wondered if perhaps there was something else. I gave Pam and Dawson instructions to question the Were tied up in the trunk. Then I nodded at Brigant and followed him to my car.

TBC...

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	6. Chapter 6

**hiding head and apologizing for taking so long to update this**

Honestly, I was sick – all I can say is the next time I am so anemic that I have to spend 5 weeks getting iron though IV bags, there had better be a Vampire to blame, and I have strong leanings towards tall, blonde ones if I get a choice.

Thanks, of course, to VampLover1 for being a fantastic beta again. She initially beta'd this way, way back before everything got put on hold. She's already got the first look at the next chapter too!

These are still Charlaine Harris's characters, playing in Wisconsin before the snow starts falling.

A little recap, since it's been forever since I updated this…

Sookie met Eric(and Pam!) on a trip to Great America, an amusement park in Gurnee, Illinois with her roommate Amelia. A good time was had by all, and Sookie agreed to go out for a night of dancing and drinks with Amelia, Pam and Eric again. After some dancing with Eric, she stepped outside for some air...and was grabbed off the street and pulled into a fleeing car, much to Eric's dismay, as he was starting to think he could have some uses for this telepath. Eric, a little too late getting to the parking lot to rescue Sookie, meets Niall Brigant instead. Niall informs Eric that he knows where Sookie has been taken, and will take Eric there, if Eric will bring her back. Eric agrees and off they go…

_^j^_^j^_^j^_^j^_

Sookie

I woke up in the dark. Real dark, where your eyes try and try to focus on anything, but there is no light to see. 'Black as pitch,' Gran would have said. I started to roll over and found that I was tied up - hands to each other and to something sturdy - a bed rail? And my ankles too. I felt like I was in a fog. How had I ended up here, where ever 'here' was? I couldn't hear anything either, no voices or minds humming away. I felt the air move around me and something, someone touched my arm. My mouth was covered before I could scream. I felt something cold and wet on my arm then the sharp prick of a needle. I had time to think _'maybe I'm in a hospital?'_ before I drifted off again.

It was still dark when I awoke again. I didn't know how long I had been asleep. I tried to move again but was still tied up. I could feel a pillow under my head and a blindfold over my eyes, now that I was waking up more. I still couldn't hear anyone around. If I took a deep breath, then I could call for help, I reasoned. Surely _someone_ had to be here. As soon as I inhaled I felt the red buzz of thoughts come into where ever I was. A hand was over my mouth instantly. Something sharp was touching my face and moving down my cheek, sharp but carefully not breaking the skin. Now I was really scared. I felt a rush of cold air as a blanket that had apparently been covering me was removed. I heard the quiet hiss of a knot being untied, and I was pulled into a sitting position by whomever, whatever was in the room with me. I felt light-headed and was glad to be left sitting for a minute. I was too frightened to move anyways.

Something pulled me to my feet. A clawed hand went over my mouth again, tapping my lips as if in a reminder to be quiet. I was walked for a short distance. I felt cold tile under my feet - apparently I had lost my shoes and hose sometime in the night? Morning? What time was it, anyway? I felt my hands being untied and the sound of a door closing and a bolt locking. I reached up and took off the blindfold, to be met with blinding bright light. When my eyes had adjusted, I saw that I was in a white-tiled bathroom. It had no windows and just the one door which, of course, was locked. I wasn't sure I wanted to find out what was outside – something at least my height, with claws - in any case. I was glad to see a toilet of course, and there was a small shower with soap and shampoo and a toothbrush still in a package. There was a small pile of clothes too, which was good as I had apparently lost my dress when I had lost my shoes. I debated for a moment on the wisdom of showering in a strange place with who knows what outside the door. I decided that being clean and dressed was very likely an improvement and couldn't hurt anything. How much worse could things get? The worst I could picture in my head was the shower scene from "Psycho" - and there was no shower curtain for anything to hide behind. So I took the hint I had been given, and showered and brushed my teeth. I combed out my hair, and dressed in the clothes that had been left. They weren't mine, but were the right size and a very similar style to what I usually wore. I was much too calm about this, I reflected. What did I remember about how I had gotten here?

I sat with my back up against the wall, facing the door so at least I would see whatever came in to get me. I remembered being at the bar with Eric last night. I had stepped outside for some air...and someone had come running, grabbed my arm and pulled me into a car. Amelia always told me not to leave the bar alone. It was always our rule to stick together, I mused; she was sure right this time... I shook my head. I was usually not so scatterbrained. It had been a guy who pulled me into a car, a guy who was frantic about getting me away because of what they would do to me. I put my head down on my knees, trying to remember.

_'I'm Barry'_ he had told me. _'Bill tried to grab me too.'_ Bill? I didn't remember Bill ever trying to grab me; in fact he had been really smooth, running his hand up my shirt, not grabby at all. I was going to open the door at the first stoplight we came to - better rolling on the pavement than going for a ride with someone who had snatched me off the sidewalk. As Barry slowed down at the light, I had the handle in my hand. I heard a loud thud on the roof of the car. It was followed by Bill Compton standing next to Barry's door.

"Going somewhere?" Bill asked. Barry looked like he was frightened speechless. Scared of Bill? That made no sense, even to my alcohol-infused thinking. I was so glad to see Bill, and then someone opened my door and pulled me out. I saw a flash of someone who was surely in a Halloween costume. After that, I remembered nothing more until I had woken up here, wherever 'here' was. Thinking was really hard. '_They must have injected me with some sort of drug,'_ I thought. That would explain my calmness and fuzzy memory. How long would I be left in this room?

I drowsed for a bit and was startled when the door opened and the lights went out. I heard the sound of something being put on the floor. Suddenly, the light was back on and, before my eyes could adjust to anything, the door closed. I blinked a few times before I could see a tray of food and a plastic cup.

'_Whoever has me here wants me clean and fed anyways,'_ I thought as I ate the food that had been brought: a sandwich, some potato chips and an orange. I filled the cup with water at the sink. As I ate, I wondered if they had drugged the food too, but decided that it didn't really matter. I wasn't going anywhere drugged, but I also didn't see myself going anywhere hungry and light-headed. I wasn't one of Charlie's Angels, able to break out from the room where I was being held; I was just a regular girl. So why had they grabbed me in the first place?

Barry had been so terrified while driving that I had really not understood anything he was saying or thinking. Except that he was also a telepath. He was the only other telepath I had ever met, however briefly. He had been absolutely horrified to see Bill, but I couldn't understand why, though.

Maybe Bill was collecting telepaths? I laughed at myself for the thought. Bill had no way of knowing I was a telepath.

I hoped that someone had seen me being taken. Amelia had been talking to Tray, and Eric to Pam, when I had gone outside. I thought I might have screamed when my arm was pulled. One of them might have heard me. I sat up with my back against the wall and waited for what would come next.

I must have dozed off again since I was caught unaware by the door opening and the light being turned off again. I couldn't see anything, and all I could sense was a red snarl of thoughts. I was getting real tired of this little pattern of happenings. My arms were pulled behind my back, and I could feel a blindfold being put over my eyes again. Hard hands steered me out the door and down a hallway, I guessed. I could feel a cool draft against my skin, and I shivered.

I heard someone think '_Damn, they got Sookie, anyway.'_ I turned toward the direction from where it felt like the thought came.

"Run!" a voice said, and the word was followed by a slapping noise and the thud of something hitting the floor hard. The thoughts and voice had sounded like Barry's, although I had really not heard enough of him to be certain. I was roughly pulled forward then pushed down to my knees before I could think too much about it. I could hear footsteps and the swish of fabric. And I could feel blank areas, like there were people with me and I just couldn't hear their thoughts. This must be what it's like to be normal, I thought.

I couldn't tell how much time really passed. I felt a red and black swirl of thoughts come into the room but couldn't get any real specific thoughts from whoever it was. But I felt almost a surge when whoever felt sorry for me changed his thoughts. I could detect very clearly, too clearly, _'Kill her, kill her, kill her.'_ I flinched away and tried to stand and run, but the hand at my neck held me in place. The thoughts stopped almost immediately. It was too late for me to try to be tough, though. I was shaking and crying.

'_Shh, don't move at all.'_ It was Barry's thoughts.

'_Barry?'_ I asked in my head.

'_Yes, I'm sorry; I thought I could hide you before Bill came for you again.'_

'_Bill? Why is Bill after me?'_

'_He had orders, and I guess he had to follow them, too. I thought I got away, but he tracked me somehow.' _Even his thoughts sounded subdued.

'_Barry, this doesn't…'_

'_Shhh, they're talking about you, let me listen.'_

I didn't hear anything, but I was quiet anyway. After a few minutes I heard Barry again.

'_They want to keep you, but they want to make sure Bill can control you. They have to wait for dark, and then they'll see if Bill can make you work for him, like I have to.'_

'_Who is 'they'? And why are they waiting for Bill?'_ I frowned, and it caught the attention of whoever had hold of me. I was slapped roughly and fell to the floor, stunned. I could hear the same thing happening to someone else, Barry, I assumed.

"Separate them until night comes," a voice said. I was picked up off the floor and half-walked, half-dragged back to a room and tied to the bed again. In an odd contrast to just being dragged, a pillow was stuffed under my head and I was covered with a blanket, as if they were trying to keep me a comfortable prisoner.

I lay miserably on my side. And thought. And thought some more. Barry was the only other telepath I had ever met, however briefly. He had said that Bill controlled him, somehow. But how, and more importantly, why? Telepathy was the only thing I had that was obviously in common with Barry. That and knowing Bill.

Time passed, and I dozed off for a while. _'Barry?'_ I thought, not sure if he could 'hear' me or if he was even still around.

'_Sookie? Are you OK?'_

'_I'm OK. Where are we and what's going on?'_

'_We're up north, I don't know the name of the town. It was dark when I left, and I had heard Bill say the name of the bar where they thought you were and that they were going to grab you there. So when I got a chance to try to get to you first, I took it…'_ He was rambling, his thoughts running through his head like a river.

'_But why did Bill want to grab me? Why does he have you?'_

'_He found out you were a telepath, like me, and he received orders to grab you, too.'_

'_Orders from whom?'_

'_Breandan.'_ He thought the name quietly, like he was afraid to even think it. _'He's the guy in charge here, everyone works for him. He's had a lot of people brought in during the last month or so. Some are still here, some we've never seen again.'_

'_Brought in for what?'_

'_He collects people who can do different things. Me, the telepath, one girl could do telekinesis – you know what that is? Things like that. Sometimes he just gets people who are afraid of him and everything.'_

'_Why does Bill work with him then? What's he do that's special?'_

'_Don't you know about Bill? He told me he'd take my sister if I didn't work with him, at first, but now, he…'_ Just then the man in question walked into my room, and I hushed Barry mentally.

Bill came and stood next to my bed and looked down at me thoughtfully. I didn't know what to say, so I just looked back at him.

"Sookie. Believe me, I didn't intend for this to happen," he said.

"I don't really understand what has happened," I told him. "Barry grabbed me at a bar, you grabbed me from Barry's car, and I ended up here, tied up or dragged around." He turned away from me.

"It's hard to explain, but you'll understand, someday." He still wasn't looking at me.

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Make sure you obey me."

"What? Bill, no way! I mean, what do you think I am? A dog that has to listen to you?"

"No." He untied the rope holding my hands and lowered the bed rail so he could sit next to me. He pulled my hands up over my head. When I struggled to get away, he held me tightly, his grip impossibly strong.

"No, you're lucky I think you're more than an animal and that Brendan thinks you're worth keeping." His free hand gripped my jaw tightly, so I was forced to look at him. "And I like it when you struggle," he sneered.

I closed my eyes, but a tear leaked out, anyway. I wished that I wasn't alone here, that Barry would come and help me, or that Eric would somehow save me. _Eric_… I had a brief thought of what he must be thinking about me, dancing with him one minute, off in a car with some other guy the next. Poor Eric. I must have said something aloud because Bill gripped my jaw so tightly that I knew I would have bruises.

"Don't ever say his name around me. Don't even think it. He is done in your life."

'_Sookie! Just go along with him, it'll be easier._' Easy for Barry to think; I had no idea what Bill intended to do.

Bill used the cold hand holding my jaw to force me to look at him again. I could feel something coming from him, not quite thoughts, but waves of something. I heard someone walk into the room, but Bill would not let me turn my head to see who it was. I felt the sting of a needle in my arm.

"You will obey me," he said, his voice full of certainty. I nodded but knew that the next chance I had I would have to try to run again.


	7. Chapter 7

Yes, these characters all still belong to Charlaine Harris. I'm so glad she thought them up for us! She's a very nice, down to earth and funny person - it was certainly worth the 5 hour trip to Shreveport to listen to her speak!

Thanks, as always, to VampLover1 for being a fantastic beta. A few changes were made after she worked on this, so all of the remaining mistakes are mine!

ERIC

We were headed north, not in the direction that the other part-fae had been taken.

It had been many, many years since I had seen Niall Brigant. He had been an indifferent ally in the Fairy Wars. He was also more prone to be out in the human world than many fairies. He really enjoyed humans and could even pass for one among the less experienced supes.

"She is related to you," I stated with some confidence.

"My great-granddaughter," he replied, looking straight ahead. At least I knew now where the fairy in her came from. If you had to be involved with fairies, Brigant's group was better than some.

"You haven't had her blood yet? Or given your blood to her? I'm shocked that you've let the chance slide by." Typical of the Fairy, to assume that I would grab any part-fae that happened to come along.

"I do not claim every human that comes to my attention." This was quite true. Most of them were just walking meals.

"But she's not quite human, is she?"

"All the more reason to be cautious," I responded.

"It would be best if you at least acted like she was yours. You will be going in to retrieve your property."

"So, who exactly are we retrieving her from?" I almost asked why he did not just fetch her himself, but I knew that he was not likely to admit any reason to a Vampire. Fairies are deep, multi-layered creatures. Any reason he gave was apt to be at best a partial truth. However, he knew that I needed to know what or who I was fighting, even if I wasn't exactly sure why.

"My nephew, Breandan." He glanced at me questioningly. I nodded. I had met Breandan and heard more about him from others.

"He is collecting most of the part-fae in this area. The ones he has no use for, he is destroying. The others he keeps. He is surrounding himself with power. Our guess is that when he feels he is strong enough, he will take over this area, at least. He foresees all the Fae and shifters and vampires in this area owing him allegiance."

It had been tried before but not by a Fae prince. I wondered how he thought to keep vampires under his rule. Perhaps by threatening to make us known to the humans; although we knew that day was already coming. I was going to have to check in with the King of Wisconsin as a vampire visiting in his area with an interest in a human, so as to not be seen as poaching on the humans in his state. I didn't know him well, but it seemed unlikely that he was weak enough, or stupid enough, to believe the promises of a fairy.

Following Brigant's directions, I had driven for about 45 minutes, north and west, but not in the same area where the Weres had taken the other human – part fae? – to the portal.

"We will not have time to get all the way in before dawn. I have a safe place nearby where you can shelter," Brigant told me, still looking straight ahead.

"Is there a phone I might use there? I need to check on my child."

"Certainly. You'll need to check in with the Area Sheriff too, I assume."

I nodded. Even a Fairy prince could appreciate the need for proper protocol, although he didn't need to know that I was bypassing the area sheriff and going to the king straight off. If Breandan had area vampires working for him, I couldn't be sure where the loyalties of the area sheriff were.

We drove into the night. Eventually Brigant pointed at an exit, and we took it. It led off into farmland. Tall cornfields lined the road, alternating with a few dairy barns and dark farmhouses. A few turns later we were driving up a hill that headed into some woods. The road turned to dirt and led to one of the ubiquitous farmhouses.

"This is one of my houses. I'm afraid dawn will come before we can get to…where she has been taken. My word on it, you will be safe here."

He led me to the door and unlocked several locks. He held his hand over the edge of the door and door jamb for a moment, with his eyes closed and lips moving. I felt the play of magic then he reached down and turned the knob. The door opened silently. In one of the human horror movies, it would have squeaked loudly.

"Enter, please," Brigant said, motioning me in with one hand. I walked into the house. It could have passed as a standard human home, just as my homes in Illinois had been designed to do.

"There is a phone in the library. Make whatever calls you need to. I will be making some preparations." Brigant paused and looked at me for a moment, nodded to himself and went down the hallway. Fairies. This one was up to no more good than any of the lot. I went and sat in the chair next to the phone. My first call was to the King of Wisconsin. I had debated how much of the story to tell him as I drove. I had even broke down and asked Brigant if the King was in the know on anything that was happening but had gotten a non-committal answer. I had decided to leave the fairies out of my explanation altogether; rather, I told the King that one of his subjects, Bill Compton, had taken a human who was of interest to me, and I was going to retrieve her. It was a common enough story. I let slip in passing that Compton seemed to be somewhat lacking care in his choice of Were companions. His response was that Bill was still young and liked to run with the wrong crowd. True enough, but it told me that whatever the Fae and Weres and Compton were involved in was either being done carefully out of the King's sight and knowledge, or with his consent and Compton was considered an expendable player. He did, however, give me permission to hunt in his Kingdom and retrieve my human.

My second call was to Pam. I found her at one of the safe houses she had set up near the city.

"We've disposed of the Weres," she said in a bored voice. "There wasn't much left of the second one by the time he decided to talk. But we do have several locations for 'Alan.' Tray has sent several of his people out to bring him to us."

"And the witch?"

"She believes, for now, that Sookie and you went off together. Tray is staying with her – no hardship on his part."

I told her where I was staying and gave her the number that was printed on the phone dial, although I didn't know if it was correct or not. She would hold Alan for my questioning, if he was found, until I returned. If she sensed I wouldn't return, she could do with Alan as she pleased. I hung up and went out into the hallway. Brigant was not in sight, so I walked from room to room until I found him. He was obviously more trusting than I would ever be, letting someone wander about his home, although he likely had wards I had not sensed set up to protect what was important to him. Or worse than protective wards. A copper bowl on the table gave the impression that someone had been scrying. I glanced from it to Brigant's face, and he shrugged. "Always double check your sources," he said noncommittally, and turned to a door that was almost hidden in the room's dark paneling. A staircase led down to a basement. Again, Brigant paused and let magic flow before we entered a room.

"No one can enter this room whom I have not personally admitted. You will be safe here, from sunlight and others."

"Tomorrow you will take me to Sookie…wherever Breandan is holding her." I wasn't going to drive around the countryside with a Fairy prince any more than I already had. Niall nodded.

"I will take you there and allow you entrance. You will be able to leave with Sookie." He looked at me apprasingly. "She'll trust you. She's still human enough to believe."

"The fairy knows Sookie is your blood? And a telepath?" Someone among Brigant's followers was leaking information, I assumed. Most fairies were quite close-mouthed about the powers that passed down to their part-human kin.

"Yes, he knows all about her. He thinks a telepath can help him control the thoughts and actions of some shifters and humans. If you know what someone really fears, you can control them…and he already has another telepath. The Vampire Compton has taken enough of his blood to control him, and I believe that is what he will try to do with Sookie as well. I'm told he is the one that told Breandan that Sookie is a telepath. And it was easy enough for Breandan to find out she was of my blood."

"I assume we need to take down Breandan?"

"I will take care of Breandan. You will find Sookie and escort her safely out. And take care of any vampires, if you like," he added condescendingly. As if I would ever listen to a fairy. A chance to kill Breandan was not to be missed.

I looked around the small underground room. It was adequately furnished and apparently secure. "I will be back at sundown," I informed Niall.

He looked at me disapprovingly. "I give my word that you will be safe here," he stated.

"But can you give the word for all of your followers?" I asked.

"None would go against my wishes," he replied.

"I will return at sunset," I informed him, walking out the door. While I might trust Niall, there were apparently problems in the Fairy hierarchy, if Breandan was attempting to set himself up in control of this region. Breandan should be following Niall's leadership. If he was attempting to break out of it, there were likely others as well. I got into my car and drove, looking for a ramshackle barn I had seen while driving. The radio was still turned to the station Pam had assured me Sookie would like. It was playing some song*, "…when you were young and your heart was an open book, you used to say live and let live…but if this ever changing world in which you live in, makes you give in and cry, say live and let die…" I was sure Sookie was still in the young, open book part of her life. What did humans really understand of living or letting die? Sookie had become a player in a changing world. I wondered how she would react to a fairy battle going on around her. If she didn't have enough sense to preserve herself and let her enemies die, she wouldn't be much use to anyone.

I found the barn and carefully drove up the rutted gravel driveway. Why didn't humans take care of the access routes to their property, I wondered, my thoughts pushed off track by the bumpy road. It was surely a sign of abandonment. The whole farm appeared uninhabited, and I drove up to a convenient spot between the barn and a silo that would hide the car from casual observation. I took to the air and went to the woods to dig a safe place for the day. As I moved the dirt, many thought passed through my head. I was happy at the thought of fighting fairies. There were few better opponents left; they were a true test of skills. I also wondered how and why Compton was involved in this. And then there was Sookie. Was it really worth the effort to try to get her out from under the fairies? I was sure Compton would have at least started to try to take enough blood from her to gain control; if I got her away, I might have to deal with her being bound to another vampire, anyway. However, I could break that bond with my own. And I still thought it would be worthwhile to have my own telepath. And then...I could not imagine leaving her in the hands of the Fairies. I had seen humans and vampires that had been subjected to the whims of the Fairies. What was left of them at the end was hardly a being; they were just battered shells. I thought about Sookie's smell, the feel of her in my arms, and decided that if I could not get her out I would kill her myself, to spare her the suffering. I covered myself with dirt and leaves and died for the day.

ooOOoo

*"Live and Let Die", written by Paul and Linda McCartney, EMI Music Publishing


	8. Chapter 8

These characters still (and always will) belong to Charlaine Harris. I'm glad she introduced them to us.

I'm also thankful to VampLover1, who is a fantastic beta reader. She does an amazing job taming my out of control punctuation and just generally making sense of it all!

I know I said I'd have this up by yesterday. The FF site needs to borrow the twitter fail whale!

_^j^_

I was at Great America again with Amelia, Pam and Eric. It was nighttime, and the neon lights glowed. We stood in line for the old-fashioned wooden roller coaster. Eric stood behind me, his arms around my shoulders. I could almost feel his possessiveness, and I liked it in some ways. I was myself, my own person, but I felt like he was protecting me from whatever was out in the night. Finally it was our turn to board the cars for the ride. Eric held my hand as I stepped in, and he slid in close next to me, one arm around me as he clicked the seatbelt over our laps single-handedly. I moved up against his chest, and he held me tight as the cars took off on the track. I laughed as we went through the first small dips and turns, the gravity throwing our bodies against each other as the wind blew our hair back and wove it together. We snuggled against each other for the long ride to the top of the highest hill. As we began to drop, faster and faster, the rose Eric had given me flew out of my hand. Eric undid the seat belt and flew – really flew - after it. I was pushed back and out of the car by the g forces. I screamed as I fell. Eric flew next to me as I dropped, looking calm and maybe a little confused as to why I didn't start flying myself. Just before I knew I was going to hit the ground, Eric reached out and grabbed me. He flew us up a little bit and back down to the ground. The impact jarred me and woke me up.

The room was gray with only light from the hallway coming through the open door. I was alone, and tied back up, darn it. My eyes and nose itched, and I rubbed my face against my arm. There was a bandage taped right above my wrist. Now what had happened? I remembered Bill being with me, and a needle...then nothing. I was really sick and tired of this place. And Bill. Just who did he think he was, anyway? I was going to have to tell him off; I'd been nice to him, even liked him, and now he'd pulled this. First though, I needed to get out of here. I listened hard to see if anyone was around. Nothing, not a peep from anyone. Not even Barry. I looked at how my hands were tied and knew I wouldn't be untying them myself. I'd have to make a break for it whenever they came and took me to the bathroom again. And now that I thought about that, I hoped it would be soon. My stomach rumbled, reminding me that I didn't know how long it had been since I'd eaten something. Well, I'd be quiet for a while, and if they (and I needed to find out who 'they' were, I added to my mental list of things to do) didn't come for me I'd start raising a fuss and see if that got any attention.

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed. No lights, no windows, no people running up and down the hall. I was just deciding if my best bet to get someone to show up was to just scream at the top of my lungs or sing at the top of my lungs (Jason always told me there wasn't much difference, given my lack of singing ability), when I felt the hazy red buzz of some sort of mind coming towards me. The hall light was turned off, so my eyes couldn't adjust quickly enough to see who or what it was. It had hands though this time, not claws. My hands were untied and they were pulled to my sides as I sat up. A gravelly voice said, "We can do this nice, and you can walk by yerself, or I can drag ya. Ya get a choice."

"I'll be nice," I informed him. It. Whoever it was it was, as long as I wasn't tied, he was giving me a chance to get free.

One arm was twisted behind my back, and I was pushed to a standing position. I was steered to the hallway and to the left, where the bathroom had been if I was remembering correctly. Of course, given the amount of drugs I had been injected with, it was just lucky I remembered anything. There were other rooms in the hallway I noticed this time, a few with open doors. Surely if I got in a room by myself, I could at least think about how to get out. Maybe I could climb through the ceiling tiles like the kidnap victims - or robbers- on TV always did. I would take whatever chance I could.

Well, if I was going to try to crawl through the ceilings, I might as well try another worn-out tactic. I moaned loudly, bending over double. The grip on my arm loosened, and I stood rapidly and rammed my elbow back where I hoped it would meet with a stomach. I was apparently successful, because whoever was holding me gave a big 'woosh' of air and gasped. I turned around and clapped my hands over his ears, just like they had showed us in the rape prevention class I had gone to with Amelia. I was surprised that it was a normal looking guy who had been holding me; he felt much stronger. While he was dazed, I put both hands together, swung and hit him in the head, right above the jaw just like Jason had always told me to. It was turning out to be the night to practice all of the self-defense stuff I had always listened to and thought I would never need. The guy fell to the floor, and I took my chance and ran.

I ran until the hallway intersected with another narrow one. Just how big was this place? I heard footsteps coming towards me from the other hallway.

I ducked into a room that looked like someone's living room, grabbed a blanket off the couch and pulled it over me. I slid under a coffee table next to the couch.

Bill was talking to someone I could not see.

"...and she managed to down her handler and get away. Why do you not have better control of her yet?" This voice did not sound happy.

"I've told you these things take time. Especially with half breeds. It's not magic," Bill whined. "I told you...I mean, you know she'll need to be closely watched. I thought your guards were better."

"You don't seem to have very good control of the male yet either. Breandan is questioning your abilities."

"I am more than capable of dealing with them both. They need to be left to me until they are ready."

"You had better make them ready very soon. They are needed...more than you are. You are certainly replaceable, but all of you are expendable. We don't keep tools we don't need." This was said in a matter of fact voice that made it sound even scarier.

"I assure you, they will be ready soon." Bill's voice sounded dry and a little frightened.

"We will find her shortly, and you had better take care of it. Breandan said you were to hunt tonight, with or without your little pets."

"Very well," Bill said, sounding a little resigned.

One set of footsteps left down the hall. I heard Bill swear softly, and go down the hall, calling my name. Sorry, Bill, not coming to you...

I was about to get up and see if I could get out of this room when I heard another set of footsteps and the jangling of a chain. Only I could have picked the room on the way to Grand Central Station, I thought to myself ruefully.

I wrapped the blanket closer around me and crouched quietly under the table, still hidden from view of the hallway, I hoped. The footsteps got closer. Peeking from under the blanket, I saw a tall man in the hallway holding a dog, some great big sort of husky by a leash. It whined softly, and he gave a sharp jerk on the lead. The dog was wearing a pretty silver choke chain, hardly visible under all the fur. It gave a yelp as the chain tightened and the man slapped it on its oversized muzzle. I wanted to get up and slap the guy myself; there was no reason to mistreat a dog. However I knew the dog might have been whining at me, so I remained still. The man and dog moved on.

Standing up, I walked cautiously over to the door and closed it. It didn't have a lock, so I tried to pull the couch over to block it. It made far too much noise, so I gave up on it, and moved the coffee table over instead. It wasn't enough to stop anyone from coming in, but it might at least slow them down. There were no ceiling tiles to pull down. There went one great idea. There was a vent towards the top of the wall, too small to get into. I sat against the coffee table and took inventory. I was dressed and had shoes on, so I at least wouldn't need to be doing the streak as I left. I had a blanket. I had a bandage on my arm. I stopped my internal list and peeled it off carefully. Ick. It looked like a dog had bitten me. Maybe that Husky that was around earlier. I didn't feel as sorry for it anymore and started wondering about rabies. Well, based on Bill's conversation with a mysterious someone, I was expendable anyway; I would worry later about keeling over from rabies if they didn't kill me here first.

After this, I heard many footsteps going down the hall. None of them stopped or even slowed at my door. I waited for what felt like half a day but was really probably only an hour or so. I was going to have to find Barry. He seemed to have some idea where we were; surely he could help get me out. I wondered if he wanted out too. I tried calling him: _'Barry, Barry, Barry...'_, yelling for him in my thoughts. I sat still and listened for an answer. For a long time there was nothing. Finally I could hear him, but his thoughts weren't making a lot of sense, almost like he was too far away from me to understand. Or maybe they had drugged him too.

I had to think about the other things they had said. Bill had referred to a half-breed. Did he mean me? Half-breed what? And was the male they referred to Barry? Both of us were telepaths. Were they going to try to use us for something? What were they doing that they needed us to be ready? It made my head hurt. I'd have to think of it later, from the comfort of my own home hopefully. Or sitting next to Eric, having a nice dinner, telling him the weird story of what happened after I stepped out of the bar for some fresh air. He'd never believe it. Could I even tell him I was a telepath without having him think I was crazy? Not likely.

Find Barry; get the Hell out of here. I made my mind up to do just that and worry about the rest later.

I listened hard for the sound of Barry's thoughts. When I felt I knew which direction they were coming from I stood up and slid the coffee table back to its spot in front of the couch. Pressing my ear up against the door, I listened for footsteps. All quiet. I opened the door and slipped cautiously into the hallway. I kept the blanket wrapped around me, thinking that I could at least throw it at anyone chasing me and maybe get lucky and have them trip on it.

The place seemed deserted. I crept through the hallways, aiming myself towards Barry's thoughts. I finally got to the area where I thought he was. That damned Husky was sitting in front of the door. I thought I had been very quiet, but the dog's hearing was too good. It looked in my direction. It stood and padded towards me. It stopped about 10 feet away and sniffed, turned away and went back to sit on the other side of the door and sat, its back pointedly turned towards me.

I took that as an odd sort of acceptance and walked up to the door, saying 'nice doggy, good doggy, nice quiet doggy' under my breath the whole time. The door was blessedly unlocked. They must have trusted the dog to guard it, I thought.

I snuck into the room. Barry was gagged and tied with a rope. I was happy (and a little surprised) they hadn't chained us up with a good steel chain or something a little more substantial, but I wasn't going to question our luck. I untied Barry, and looked closely at him before I took his gag out. If he was high on whatever they'd been shooting us with, he might be better gagged and quiet, not singing in the hallways.

_'Barry,'_ I thought. _'Are you ok?'_ He looked at me and nodded.

_'Fucked up from the damn drugs. Sorry. 'scuse my language. The drugs, ya know.'_

_'Can we get out of here? Do you know the way out?' _I gently removed the gag from his mouth.

_'I know they way, but I don't know if we can get out, you know? Sometimes the door, it just won't open for anyone,' _He was working his lips like they were stiff but stayed quiet.

_'I didn't see anyone in the halls, just the Husky at the door. Can you walk? Can we try to get out?'_

_'Husky? Husky?_' He was really confused. He must have seen the picture in my head, because he suddenly thought _'Oh, that Husky,'_ and shut his thoughts down.

After a minute or two of seeming to orient himself he seemed better _'The drugs make me a little crazy. Don't mind me. If the dog let you in, it should let us out. I hope.'_

We went out the door. The Husky looked at us and turned his head, like he wasn't interested after all. Barry indicated a direction. He was staggering some but getting better as he moved.

"Where do you suppose everyone is?" I asked him. The halls were still deserted.

'_You really don't want to know. Maybe I'll tell you about it later. Outside. And be quiet. They still might have someone around.'"_

We walked cautiously, Barry guiding us through several hallways. In some areas it seemed like someone's (really, really big) home. In others it had an institutional feel. I still wondered where we were. '_I think it's this way,'_ Barry thought, pointing towards a stairway going up.

We started towards it, and I nearly had a heart attack when a beautiful, tall woman stepped silently from a room I hadn't noticed.

"There you are," she said. "I knew you'd make it. Hurry now!" She took my arm and led us towards the stairs. As we got closer, someone I couldn't see started down them from the top. She jerked us back in the direction we'd come from, shoved us into a closet and closed the door on us. We looked at each other. Barry shrugged his shoulders. We listened to the conversation.

"Hey Claudine, any luck?"

"Not until I laid eyes on you," she answered.

"Well they couldn't have gotten far. The wolves will find them."

Wolves? We must be way up north. If there were wolves outside, there'd be bears, too. Shoot. It still had to be better out than in.

"And once they're found, things can get back to normal. Is that blood on your shirt?" I heard the sound of fabric moving.

"Maybe. I was out with Breandan earlier, hunting. Nothing like the chase, you know."

"Except the catch." There was an odd noise I couldn't identify and another one like a body hitting the floor. The door was pulled open and the woman was standing there...with a body on the floor.

"Out," she said quietly and motioned down the hall with her head. Barry and I took the hint and went towards the stairway. I looked back and saw the legs of the body disappearing into the closet. Apparently Claudine, whoever she was, was tucking it away for later.

"Which way is out?" I whispered to Barry."And who was that?"

"I'm not sure, I think it's this way." He pulled me up the stairs.

"You're not sure? How'd you get out last time?" I didn't think the drugs had done much for his memory either.

"With Bill and one of the other guys. I slipped away from Bill after we'd left. He stopped in the city to...get something, and he'd told me where we were going, so I took the chance and left."

When we reached the top, we stood on the landing for a moment to catch our breath.

A cold hand gripped my shoulder. "Going somewhere?" a familiar voice asked. Oh Shit.

tbc... ^..^


	9. Chapter 9

These characters still belong to Charlaine Harris.

Thank my beta, VampLover1, for taking all of the mistakes out of this. She makes it readable for you! So does "Dear Pam" and her writing tips on the Sookieverse at: www(dot)thesookieverse(dot)com.

^i^

I woke with sundown. Fortunately, when vampires were awake we were instantly awake; there was none of the grogginess humans complained about, which I hardly remembered anyway. I was awake and knew what my goals were for the night, although I wasn't yet sure how I was going to accomplish them. I dug out of my hole and shook off the remaining dirt. I flew back to my Corvette and got clean clothes out of the trunk: black jeans and black t shirt more suited for battle. I saw an old hand pump next to a well, so I stripped down and drew some water to wash with, letting it splash on the ground for lack of a bucket, remembering when every farmstead had a pump like this. I dried with a towel out of the trunk and dressed and braided my hair back. I removed a piece of lining in the car's trunk and retrieved a short iron dagger. It would serve to kill Fairies. It had done that in the past. It could also take care of Weres messing in things they had no business in, and it had decapitated more than one vampire who wouldn't see reason. It was in a dark leather sheath, which I tied to my belt.

I had fed well last night, but it would be better to be at full strength to deal with Fairies. I flew into the night, seeking available prey. I saw a bar and landed lightly in the parking lot. As I got closer, I noticed the smell of Weres. I moved to the surrounding shrubs to wait for someone to come to the parking lot. However, the scent of Were was just too much to endure. It must be a meeting place for them, I thought. A good place to hunt, but not my chosen battle for tonight. I would keep it in mind though. Compton was getting his Weres from somewhere or someone. Maybe there would be someone willing to give up information here. I took to the air again, until I saw a lone farmer, going from one outbuilding to another, tending to his beasts perhaps. I was upon him before he even knew anything was near. I drank enough to sate myself for the fight, and left the farmer with a memory of chasing wolves away from his black and white cows, just for fun.

I flew back to the house Niall had been in earlier. I landed some distance from it and crouched down low to the ground. I was still for a few minutes, looking and listening for whomever else might be out here. There seemed to be no one, although I was sure Niall's wards had notified him that someone had stopped by. I walked cautiously to the door on the side of the building. It opened before I could knock on it, and Niall motioned me in. I followed him through to the same room he had been in early this morning.

A tall, dark-haired Fairy stood in one corner of the room. He was good looking, like most Fae, if not my type. He eyed me up and down as if I was perhaps his type. I glared at him to indicate my lack of interest and he laughed.

"Claude," Niall said, nodding his head towards the other Fairy. "My kin. Sookie's also."

"So you're the Vampire who's going to fetch Sookie and keep her safe. Maybe you can, at that. But, my lord, wouldn't it be better if Claudine and I took her and hid her somewhere? Surely she'd be better off than with the Vampires."

"No," said Niall simply.

"But..." started Claude. Niall cut him off with a gesture.

"I have decided this. She is too human to survive among the Fae, and too Fae to be left alone. Breandan's people know she is of some value now. We will remove her from his control."

_And likely remove Breandan at the same time__, _I thought_._

"She will not be an easy thing to keep safe," Claude remarked.

"I know that," I replied.

"Do you claim her as your own?" Niall asked me, with a significant look at Claude.

This human, even if she was a human-fairy hybrid at some level, was mine. I had shown interest in her, provided drink for her, satisfied her sexually, and tasted her blood, even if it was only a drop. She had returned the interest, accompanying me in public, clinging to me on the dance floor. I wanted to claim her, burying myself deep in her, and have her accept the claim on top of me, but that could wait. As could giving her my blood, to tighten my hold on her. It could also tighten her hold on me, I knew, but it was a risk I was willing to take. A telepath could make life among the humans much easier. Breandan had reasoned this out too, if he was adding them to his collection, although he was likely just using them to terrorize others, while I would be using her to better survive.

Taking a human that belonged to another was strongly discouraged among Vampires. It gave me standing to retrieve her if Compton held her. Fairies didn't often take and keep even the half-breeds past a certain age. Insteadthey relyied on the need they seemed to build in the human to be around them to keep them bound; that and their ability to generally distort human memories.

"I claim her as my human, taken wrongly from me and my protection," I told Niall, with no uncertainty in my voice.

"I give her to your protection," Niall said formally.

_So many ways to protect a human though_, I thought. And so much to protect this one from.

Niall led the way out of the house and back into the woods. When we were some distance in, a Fairy popped out of a portal. He nodded deferentially at Niall and gave a smaller nod to Claude.

"This one is with me," Niall said to the new Fairy with a wave of his hand in my direction. "He has given his protection to one of my blood and goes to reclaim her. He will be allowed safe passage."

The other Fairy took me in with a glance. "As you wish, my lord. The others are waiting inside."

"Others?" I remarked to Niall. I knew this wasn't a simple "grab Sookie back" mission.

"We must be sure this doesn't happen again," he stated flatly.

I was sure he meant more than just those of his blood being taken. Breandan's attempt to grab power and run this area had to be stopped in his eyes. In my eyes too. Breandan was not hiring people who were cautious. I wondered which vampires he had working for him other than Compton. And his choice of Weres was poor. And their tactics...they were going to bring too much attention to us from the humans. It would be best if the Fairies took care of their own; a supe war would be hard to cover up now, with television and radio and newspapers everywhere.

Claude went first through the portal. Niall motioned me next. I stepped through and felt the magic pull me through to another place.

Grey mist, rocks and a rolling plain. I knew this place, or someplace like it; I had been here on the earthly plane too, many years ago. Humans thought they had moved the dirt and rocks themselves, through the fantastic use of pulley and levers and rolling logs. Most of them had been made to forget the Fairies among them who had really made the work possible, and relegated the Fairies, not the unused tools, into fantasy. Those who thought it was magic were scoffed at. The magic had worked well, producing structures that had stood on this Earth even longer than I, while fogging the memory of the humans.

Niall, Claude and I stood next to one of the large rocks. As we watched, a Were burst out of nothing between two of the rocks. It shimmered and solidified as it ran, and suddenly changed direction towards us. My hand tightened around my dagger. Niall held a hand up as if he sensed my movement. The wolf paused at the bottom of a ditch before coming to us more slowly.

"This one is mine," Niall said. I half expected him to take a defensive posture, but he stood tall. The Were ran until it was about 10 feet from us, then crawled on its belly to Niall. It must have been his creature, not his to destroy, I mused.

The Were shifted form and lay naked at Niall's feet. He breathed hard for a few minutes and rose up to kneel in front of Niall.

"You have failed?" asked Niall, his voice soft with a faint overtone of menace.

"I tried! I had her untied, and was taking her out, and she attacked me. You didn't say she might fight back." He was whining, trying to sound tough and failing, a Were attacked - apparently successfully - by a small human female. I was going to have to reassess Sookie, if she could escape from a Were.

"You disappoint me," said Niall. "Where did you leave her?"

"She knocked me out and ran. Before I could get to her again one of Breandan's guys grabbed hold of me, made me shift to scent her out. I couldn't tell him no. She was hiding and I took him away from her. Then they left for the hunt. They said she was still loose, she and the other one, and we was supposed to watch for them. She found her way to that guy's room and Maria-Star let them go. Claudine made sure we knew to get them out."

"None of you accompanied her?"

"No...Maria-Star let them out, but you know how soft she's gotten. She's barely hanging on now. She was afraid to go with them. Since they took Alcide from her, she ain't right anymore."

"She'll lose more than Alcide if she doesn't start working for me."

"They're holding some of us with silver. We're not getting out of this easy either."

"Shift back," Niall ordered. "Maybe you can make real use of your vaunted tracking abilities this time."

We walked towards where the gate was, invisible to even my eyes. The Were followed several steps behind, head down.

We slipped through the gate.

"You will be unable to pass through the gate alone; you must have a fairy with you, a willing one, or the magic will not let you pass," Niall told me belatedly.

"Now you tell me this?"

"I believe Sookie's presence will be enough to let you pass."

"You believe. I believe you should have told me this before you had me trapped here." I would have skewered him then and there, but I needed Niall on my side, for now. It wasn't a good idea to kill him, if my goal was to get Sookie. Not until I had her safely out.

Niall's sword rested easily in his leather-gloved hands. The runes etched into it glowed occasionally, one at a time, as if it was communicating with him. My own sword, not quite so old as Niall's, said nothing to me; the desire to cover it in blood was all mine.

I reminded myself not to send Compton's head flying from his shoulders with one slice of my sword the moment I set eyes on him. I might need to question him about Sookie's location. Also it would be more painful for him if it were drawn out.

We walked down a hallway, Claude leading the way. He paused outside a door and signaled us to wait. He went into a room and came back out with swords for himself and Niall. Niall looked at the Were.

"Find her," he commanded. The Were went to the front, head down and ears flat. It walked, sniffing at the floor and walls as it went forward. It went for some distance, and then paused where a staircase joined the hallway. I could smell fresh blood, and the Were stuck its nose into a drop on the floor. It sat and looked at Niall. There was blood on a wall too. Some of it was Vampire blood. Another spot was smeared and still wet. I tasted it carefully with a finger. Sookie.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N:

Yes, these are an odd version of the characters created and owned by Charlaine Harris. Thanks to her for letting us play with them!

And thanks to Vamplover1, who can somehow manage to figure out what I really meant to write, and make sense of it all!

^j^ ^..^

**Sookie**

"Bill Compton, I just cannot believe you," I started in on him. "Yes, I'm going somewhere. Barry and I are getting out of this, this, where ever we are, and I am going home. Don't you call me or stop by the bar; I never want to see your sorry self again."

Bill had almost appeared out of nowhere it seemed, along with a tall, gorgeous guy.

"You _are_ home, Sookie. This is where you belong." His voice was soft and a little odd-sounding.

"No way. Bill, you must be nuts." I started to push past him. "Come on, Barry," I said and grabbed his arm.

Bill took a step, yanked Barry's arm out from my hand and shoved him up against the wall. "Don't touch her," he growled as he loomed over Barry.

"Leave him alone," I snarled, and went to pull him away from Barry. He didn't move when I tugged on his arm, so I took a step back and kicked him in the back of the knee. He buckled a little bit then, and half-staggered a foot or so away from Barry, who saw his chance. He held both hands together in a fist and swung into Bill's face. Blood spurted from somewhere, and Bill put both hands to his face for a second. I grabbed Barry and told him to run, but I had forgotten about Bill's companion. He was watching us with all the interest of a five-year old who has stirred up an ant hill with a stick. I thought he might just kill us with all the consideration he'd have for one of those ants. I hoped that wasn't a real thought I had picked up out of his head, but he just grabbed both of us in an iron grip.

I tried to pull my arm out of his grasp but got nowhere. I decided that being quiet and sneaky had gotten me nothing, so I yelled "Ow! You're hurting my arm! Ow!" as loudly as I could. He gave me a disgusted look, but his grip loosened up just a little bit. I pulled hard again, enough to shove the bandage off my arm and open up the scabs on it. "Ow! Now I'm bleeding all over! Your rabid dog bit me, and now I'm going to bleed to death!" Bill had gotten his feet back under him and looked at me. He grabbed my arm away from the big guy and looked at the marks on it. He raised it up and licked the blood off it.

"Ew, Bill, get your gross tongue off me! Yuck!" I kicked at him again and he threw me casually towards the wall. I huddled on the floor for a few seconds and stood up. The cut on my wrist was bleeding more now. I put some pressure on it with the other hand. Bill had Barry up against the other wall, towering over him and talking in a low voice. Barry was nodding slowly. Tall and Gorgeous was just standing and watching again. I pushed off against the wall and launched myself at Bill's back. It was like hitting a brick wall. I bounced off a little and Bill turned and put me up against the wall next to Barry. He must be doing some kung-fu training somewhere, I thought, dazed. He was awfully fast.

"Compton, stop playing with the little ones. We have better things to do tonight. Unless you want to share the girl?"

"She is mine," growled Bill.

"I am not yours, you jerk!" I tried to push off of the wall. Bill looked at me funny.

"Oh, yes you are," he said with no intonation. It felt like kindergarten - _Am not! Are so!_ It didn't feel like games though when Bill slapped me in the face hard enough that I saw stars that sparkled into blackness.

When I woke up it was still absolutely black. It didn't feel like I had been out that long. I sat up carefully, from what felt like a dirt floor. I could hear Barry singing in his head.

"Barry? Where are you? Can you hear me?" I heard movement to my right and the song in Barry's head changed to "Can you hear me Major Tom? Can you hear me Major Tom…?"

"Barry!" I crawled over and felt him leaning up against a wall. He jumped when I touched him.

"Sorry," he said. "It makes it easier to keep him out of my head if I go somewhere else, you know." I didn't know.

"What?" I asked him.

"If I try real hard, he can't get his thoughts into me. Haven't you tried it?"

I shook my head slowly, then realized that he couldn't see me either in the pitch black. I said "no" with some uncertainty in my voice. Get in my head?

"I don't understand," I told him after some thought.

"Some of them can put thoughts into your head, make you do things, think things. Doesn't he do it to you?"

Poor Barry. What kind of drugs had they given him, I wondered, to be imagining things like that? Then again, it was just messed up enough down here that I was starting to believe anything could be real.

"No," I answered. "At least I don't think so." That was just a guess on my part. Would I know if someone else had beamed thoughts into me? I wasn't sure. I leaned up on the wall next to Barry.

"Where are we now?"

"In the basement, I guess. I haven't been here before..." his voice trailed off.

My head didn't hurt too badly, and I got up cautiously. I felt my way around the room, moving slowly in case there was anything besides Barry to trip on. I found a locked door - the knob didn't even budge. I made my way back to Barry. "Are you OK?"I asked him belatedly.

"Yeah, just weak right now."

"Did he hit you, too?"

"Uh, yeah." He was lying; I could tell even in the dark but didn't push him on it. We needed to get out again. I wondered how long it would take to dig out through the dirt. I dug at it a little with my hands, and didn't get far before my hands were sore. The dirt was very hard. If this didn't have a door it would feel like a tomb, unsure if it was my own thought or Barry's.

I dozed a little in the dark, as did Barry. I almost missed the sound of the key slipping into the lock.

I stood up and pulled Barry to his feet. We both stood backed up against the wall. The door opened to a dim light that was still nearly blinding after the complete darkness. While I blinked and squinted, a soft female voice said "Here you are! Come on out now, and hurry!" It was the same voice we had heard earlier outside the closet. I shrugged my shoulders at Barry, and we walked forward.

Once we were in the hallway, the door was closed behind us and I heard the click of the lock and the key being pulled free.

"Let's go; they're looking for you already." It was the same woman and she led us back toward some stairs. I hoped this would turn out better than the last set of stairs had.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Claudine," she answered simply.

"What's going on here?"

She turned and beamed a bright smile at me. "You'll find out soon enough. First, we need to get you out."

She led us up the stairs and though yet another hallway that I didn't recognize.

It was just plain scary. I heard what sounded like shrieks in the distance and saw flashes of light. There was a pile of dusty looking dirt on the floor, shaped like a body, and a little farther past it a naked man lay on the floor with his throat torn out. I gave a sharp gasp, and Claudine turned like a top and had her hand over my mouth before I could draw another breath.

"Not a word from either of you," she said in a commanding voice, looking at us. I nodded, feeling a little sick.

There were blood puddles, on the floor and I found out that they were quite slick when I almost slipped and fell in one. Claudine held me upright. "You don't want to fall in that, you'll really attract attention." Barry nodded in agreement. The dogs, I thought. They would be all over me if I was covered in blood. Another body was on the floor with a big cut in its chest. The arms and legs were missing, with more of the dirt lying around it. Claudine looked at it with satisfaction. "Ah, good," she said and gave it a little kick. More dirt fell off it in a soft cloud of dust. I looked away and concentrated on Claudine's back as she continued down the hall. _I will not be sick, I will not be sick_, I told myself firmly. Fortunately, it seemed like forever since that sandwich I'd eaten. I was glad I hadn't found anything else to nibble on during my wait for freedom. Two men and one woman lay dead on the floor. _Those are some that I helped Bill get_, I heard a surprised Barry think before he looked away from them.

Farther down the hallway were still more bodies. The air was thick in some spots with a fine dust. It reminded me of the haunted houses at Halloween, where you pay a dollar or two and get led through rooms of 'gore' made up from red Jello and mannequin parts. All it needed here was a few black lights and strobes. And it needed the smell of Jello since right now it smelled terrible.

Claudine opened the door to a room and motioned us in with a hurry-up gesture. Closing the door and locking it behind us, she grabbed my arm and took me along in her wake. Barry followed us closely, as if he was afraid of being left behind. I couldn't blame him, I wanted out of this place so badly I could taste it. The room was large, and some people stood with their backs to us, facing a light so we could see nothing but the shapes of their bodies. I pulled back a little.

Claudine looked back at me. "It will be fine, I promise." I thought that her idea of fine and mine were two different things but followed her anyway. The figures moved apart as we got closer, and I could see they were gathered around a seated Niall, whom I recognized from the bar. He stood as we approached.

"Sookie," he said and held his hand out to me. I took it and he drew me into an unexpected and unfamiliar embrace. I moved back from him a little.

"Niall? What are you doing here?" Where ever 'here' was, he was the last person I expected to see, other than Bill. Then Eric stepped into the light, and I had to reassess - _he_ was the absolute last person I expected to see. He moved forward and took my hand from Niall, who gave it up a little unwillingly I thought.

Eric had blood on his hands and face, and a big damp spot of it on his shirt. Everyone in the room, other than Niall, seemed to have blood on them, although I thought that Eric was the only one carrying a sword. I had never seen someone with a sword, outside of some movies, but Eric looked right with it. By then, he might have looked good to me with anything, I was so glad to see him. The group of people in the room made Barry and me look very plain, I thought. A couple of the guys were as pale as Eric, but every one of them was strikingly handsome. There were a few women and they were beautiful. Eric brought his arm around me. I resisted for just a second, not wanting to get blood all over myself, then realized that was silly, I already had blood all over my shirt from fighting with Bill earlier.

"Eric, I'm sorry," I began, wanting to apologize for leaving him at the bar, although I really didn't have much choice in the matter.

"Shh," he quieted me. "This isn't the time."

"This is Sookie, who is of my blood," announced Niall. "And Eric Northman, who has claimed her. I have allowed him to provide her with protection." The crowd looked at me and nodded, although some gave Eric a good hard look, as I would have, if I could have turned around to do so.

"No," said Eric in my ear. "Do not make this any more difficult than it already is." He held me firmly in place. I took a deep breath and said nothing. But as soon as I was out of here, he was going to get more than a piece of my mind, right after Bill Compton.

"My lord, they have blocked all of the exits." One of the men had knelt down and was talking to Niall.

"Excellent," said Niall. "We know where they all are then?"

"Most of the ones in this area. A few more may be loose, but Breandan is reluctant to let them out of his sight and command. They hunted tonight, and many of them are tired from the chase. Or sated," he added with a long look at one of the paler men.

"Here is the plan then." Niall began sketching on a piece of paper. Eric placed me in a chair.

"Go absolutely nowhere without me," he told me softly and kissed me lightly on the forehead. He closed his eyes for a moment and seemed to gather himself before he left me to join the group gathered around Niall. I pinched myself. This was starting to feel like a nightmare that had gone on for too long. I didn't wake up, though. Barry sat in a chair near me and put his head in his hands. _I can't believe I helped with that_, I heard him think. I looked at him and he looked back. _Someday, you'll understand_.

The gathering around Niall talked and planned for what seemed like a long time. A few people came in and out of the room, reporting to Niall or getting directions from him. Eric was watching it all with interest, occasionally commenting on something in a voice too low for me to hear. Some of them had knives or swords almost like Eric's. I cat-napped a little bit and hoped to wake up at home. Instead, every time I woke up it was to look at the group of people making plans for something I didn't understand.

Once I saw Claudine wiping what looked like dried blood off of Barry's neck. A little later she brought some sandwiches, a pitcher of water, and some sort of juice.

"I hope you like chicken," she said as she set the plates in front of us. Barry and I both ate and drank ravenously, and I hope I wouldn't regret it later, remembering the bodies in the hallway. After we ate, Claudine led us to a bathroom tuck in a corner of the room. While we waited for Barry to finish, I asked Claudine what was going on.

"We're reordering the world. It takes a bit of planning." She smiled as she spoke. Her words made no sense to me at all, and I'm sure my expression showed it.

"Don't worry. Your Eric will explain it all to you someday. Or Niall, perhaps."

"But..."

"Don't worry," she repeated. I gave in for now.

When Barry came out of the little room, I looked surreptitiously at Barry's neck. It had a bunch of odd scars on it. I wondered what had happened to him. When we returned to the main part of the room, everyone was standing. Eric held his hand out to me, and I went to him.

"Stay with me. Do what I tell you to, and you'll be just fine." I started to object, then thought about the bodies in the hall again, the dogs running loose and the puddles of blood. Staying with him seemed like a better idea.

**Eric**

She had blood on her. If I hadn't already been exposed to enough fairy blood to make a hundred vampires drunk, it might have been a lot for even me to deal with. I took her hand out of Niall's. He seemed reluctant to give it up to me but did so anyway. We had fought our way into this room, which Niall had said was secure from Breandan. More Fairy magic, I supposed. I had stabbed one Fairy who was behind Niall, almost giving in to the temptation to let the dagger continue into Niall. I didn't, though. Better to wait until I had Sookie out. I'd only had a few sips of the fallen before they turned to dust. I didn't want my mind clouded in the middle of a good fight. As I had expected, Niall's plans didn't only involve freeing Sookie. He intended to kill Breandan and as many of his followers to make an example of them. For a race supposedly concerned with their dwindling numbers, they didn't have much thought about decreasing those numbers in battle.

Niall had come up with an acceptable plan, I thought, listening to it as Sookie drowsed in a chair. Claude and Claudine would lead a larger group to fight at the main exit, where most of Breandan's forces seemed to be massed. Because one of the twins normally accompanied Niall, Breandan should expect to find Niall with them. Breandan would want to kill Niall with his own hand, so we would wait to see if he took the bait, then we'd come up behind him. While this was happening, I was to take Sookie to one of the lesser guarded exits and get her out. Privately, I thought that my chances of catching Breandan myself at one of the other exits were just as good as Niall's chance of getting him at the main one. Breandan had never seemed like the kind of fighter to go in until he knew his forces had significantly weakened the opposition. He was as likely to cut and run if he thought his forces were not up to the fight – abandoning them in the process. Claudine had fed the two humans and taken them to see to their other needs. I approved; they would need some strength for what was coming.

When they walked back into the main part of the room, Sookie came to my outstretched hand, almost as if she were tame and hadn't fought off a Were earlier. She still seemed quite dazed by all that was going on around her.

I told her to stay with me and do as she was told. She looked at me with a spark of irritation, but then settled down. I approved. So far, her spirit hadn't been broken by whatever she'd seen, and she had enough sense to listen. Now, all I needed to do was get her out of here and kill as many Fairies as I could on the way. We'd see where that spirit would take her.

^j^ ^..^

Oh, the song in Barry's head - David Bowie's "Space Oddity", RCA records, of course.


End file.
